Self assessment - do I need to do it?

[Redcrayons]

I'm a bit confused about whether or not I need to pay tax or not or some freelance work for 14/15.

I have a normal job through which I pay tax PAYE. In December 2014 I earnt £200 ish through a freelance job. This was paid straight into my Paypal account as cash.

I thought I would have to declare this for tax, but just reading the HMRC website and it says that I only have to fill in if:

you got £2,500 or more in untaxed income

So now I'm confused. Do I pay tax as my total income is over £2500 or do I only pay when my untaxed ie freelance income is over £2500?

Hmrc can collect the tax through your employers payroll if it's less than £2500. You still need to declare it.

Give HMRC a call to discuss it.

I don't mind paying the tax in one go, totalled up yesterday and my income was £180, so won't break the bank. Just the wording on the website got me confused.

Will go online and do it tomorrow. Thanks.

You have to declare the income and pay tax on it at your marginal rate. But you don't need to do a SA to do that.

If it's a one off don't opt for it to be collected via employer's payroll else it will stick on there for years and you'll be paying extra tax next year if you don't have those extra earnings again.

How do I pay tax if I don't do a self assessment?

I didn't want to pay through payroll on my normal job, i work with someone who has problems every April because he has a small income outside of his normal job. Plus it's not a huge amount of money anyway, so I can pay now.

I have earned some extra income this tax year as well, about £500.

You work out what you owe, and send them a letter with a cheque. Honestly, don't get into self assessment if you can avoid it.