Paying tax on a small amount of SE work

[Oodsigma]

I earnt £140 SE last year on top of my regular employment. Do I need to do a full tax return? am hopeful that I don't but I expect I do

My husband has earned similar SE amounts on top of his normal salary for the last couple of years. We (ie I - he's rubbish with money) just phoned the tax office and asked for their advice. They said just to write a letter each year with the amount he earned, as it wasn't worth filling in a whole tax return for such a small amount. They then altered his tax code. I'd give them a ring - they're actually very helpful.

That sounds more like it. Will hunt out my details and phone up. I already have a weird tax code so if I can just pay the tax it might be easier but anything is better than a tax return!

Tbh I think you are well to register for self assessment. I earn about £5k a year - it takes me 20 minutes tops to complete on the form online every year. The reality of a tax return is much less than the thought of it!

Its not likely to be a regular thing though. Doubt I will do anything beyond my usual Job this year. Does that matter?

You can just ring them and get them to adjust your tax code, but TBH if you "already have a weird tax code" I'd be inclined to ask to fill in a self assessment tax return every year to make sure that you weren't overpaying tax anyway, unless you are checking the calculations some other way.

Agree self assessment is amazingly easy to do! One of the more successful HMGov online set-ups.

My tax code is something to do with getting a car allowance from work? £30 a month which doesn't go very far towards having a car for work

Is that one of those stupid schemes where they pay you a fixed allowance which includes a tax-free element to take account of an assumed amount of business mileage? IME they NEVER work and you should fill in a tax return, ensuring that you put down as an expense all of your business mileage at 45p per mile. Get details of any tax-free payments you have received from your employer. You may also be able to claim professional subscriptions or other expenses.

Self assessment forms are expensive to process and the inland revenue are in some cases refusing self assessment forms and asking for a letter stating profits or losses. My sister in law recently requested SA forms to declare buy to let profit, because the profit was minimal the IR only wanted a letter stating profits or loss each year.

I've phoned up and they registered me as SE then closed it then told me phone someone else and tell them the details. I'm more confused than ever not helped by feeding 5 week old baby while on the phone

The car allowance is £30 a month then we get mileage of 30p a mile. It's mandatory to have a car for my job. Allowance used to be more then it got cut , then pro-rataed( fair enough I suppose) and mileage was cut too.

Sorted now! Got a sensible person who added it to my tax code in minutes.
Thanks for all the advice!

"then we get mileage of 30p a mile"

You can claim an additional 15p a mile to reduce your taxable income.

That's interesting. Does that need a tax return then? I don't pay a massive amount of tax but it would be useful!

No, you could write to them each year and tell them you have employment expenses of X and then they can try and process it through your tax code without either you or they getting confused with how much was allowed last year and how much should be allowed this year and whether the notification of tax code change got to your employer in time and they processed it correctly and the person who deals with it actually knows what they are doing and their system is working despite being redesigned by people that have no concept of the general principles of taxation and believe that it works just like benefit entitlements and even if everything works you will only get the refund spread out over the next tax year because of the way PAYE works...

Or you could just fill in a tax return online, see the results instantly and ask for a transfer straight to your bank account which usually comes within a week.

Thanks. V interesting.