Am I a complete idiot for doing this tax return

[Taxdummy]

I have a sideline which in the last tax year brought in exactly £1005 before expenses.
In previous years it has been more so I’ve filled in tax returns with help from husband.

This year he had previously said not to bother doing one for the sake of £5 over the limit and a couple of hundred pounds in expenses.

But I am a rule follower so checked on the online thing and as it was over £1000 I clicked to start the online return form.
Didn’t get very far as needed husband’s help for something and now he says I’m an idiot for starting it (but will help me complete it-it’s just a waste of time and money that I’ll now be liable to pay)

my question is-now I’ve started the online form will it somehow alert hmrc that I need to complete it or could I still get away with not doing it?

Well they have no way of knowing you aren’t trading anymore unless you tell them.

My mum had to do tax returns until she died in her nineties. For about five years it was zero, but she still had to do them

If you are filling in a tax return online it should be very straightforward as the system prompts you for the information needed.

All you need is your P60, your income from self employment, summary of expenses (or just claim the standard £1000 allowance), interest from savings, any dividends from investments, and your pension statement.

If you are not currently contributing to a pension, you really should - unless you have chosen to use ISAs instead.

Be proud of yourself for being honest OP, unlike thousands of other people with sideline businesses.

Just go back to the box where it asks if you earned more than £1000 from any other source and say no.

It’s done. Apart from a hairy moment where it said it I owed over £2000 in tax (I changed employer that year and put the wrong amount in somewhere) it was fairly straightforward.
£2.60 paid to hmrc and I have a clean conscience.

Well done @Taxdummy !

I'm in a similar position of making under 1k profit so querying whether I need to complete a tax return.
Do HMRC write to you to request one, or does it say on your online account?

Did you do one last year @garlicandsapphires ? If you did, and haven’t told them you don’t need to do one, then they’ll be expecting one. And you’ll have had eleventy-billion reminders via email by now.

If you have never done one, and you don’t make £1k profit yet then you probably don’t need to do one. If you’ve got a login, I’d go and check.

@garlicandsapphires - this will tell you if you need to do one:

www.gov.uk/check-if-you-need-tax-return

Sounds like you don’t need but this will be the best place to check. If you do need to, it’s up to you to tell HMRC that you do.

Thanks both. I've done them previously, last one was 2018, then deregistered as self employed. I will check online.