How do I complete a self-assessment for survey income?

[AllBranEater]

I've earned £4k+ from doing surveys on prolific, so I think I need to fill in a self-assessment tax return. I'm not sure where to get started, and some of my payments are in $, so I'm not sure if that changes anything? Does anyone know of any good guides to self-assessment tax return please?

Ask ChatGPT or other AI? First you need to register for self assessment, the gov.uk website will talk you through it. You’d fill out the self employment section. I would imagine you just use the currency conversion that it landed with in your UK bank account or look up the exchange rate that applied at the time. I’m sure you know this but the tax year is 6 April - 5 April and your tax return (and tax) is due 31 January after the end of the tax year. So you’re late for 6 April 2024 - 5 April 2025 but still do it anyway. If that’s all you earn you won’t have to pay anything as it’s under your personal allowance but technically you should still file a return.

Thanks - it's my tax return for 6 april 2025-5 april 2026, so I think I'm in time still?

Register for Self Assessment, and self employment. Fill in the tax return, it pretty much talks you through it . You need to convert your $ income into £ try to use the exchange rate on the day you received the money not the day you are filling in the return. Remember to deduct any expenses but unless they were over £1000 best to just deduct the £1000 flat rate trading allowance

It’s really easy I have had to do the same for prolific as I earnt $14000 last year! You need to register for self assessment then you add the income into the form under ‘other’. Bear in mind you will need to make a payment on account for the next tax year (pay 50% of what you think you will earn for the next year).

Also you will need to convert accurately from $ to £ presuming you have made this money through AI studies. You need to use the HMRC standard exchange rates which are published online.

Thanks, that's really helpful. Yes, it's the AI studies. That's good to know re: standard exchange rates, I had thought to use the ones paypal uses when I convert the $.

Sorry to butt in! Is it not acceptable to use PayPal’s exchange rates? I haven’t had to do a tax return yet.

I'll be honest there's no way in hell I would bother doing self assessment just for that. Unless the survey companies report to HMRC how the he'll would they even find out? Apologies if I'm missing something. Do you have other income you need to report?

They do report to HMRC so not great advice.

Some of the ‘survey’ companies have evolved the work they offer and if you are lucky enough it can be lucrative and plenty of it. I have made about £20k on prolific in a couple of years.

They do tell HMRC, and morally I need to do it too... :)

ALL survey companies, from the ones like Prolific who have high paying surveys to the ones who only give you 10p for your time, have to report to HMRC the details of who they’ve paid and how much.

There is very little HMRC don't know about nowadays. As they have access to your bank accounts even if companies don't report directly to them they can see who you are receiving payments from.

The £1000 isn't a tax deductible expense allowance, its a limit below which you don't have to report.

However as the OP has earned £4k, the whole amount is taxable (depending on personal allowance) minus any expenses, which are likely to be minimal unless the OP has had to travelor make purchases to earn this money.

For money paid in dollars, I would count whatever amount was received in your bank account, which was presumably in pounds unless you have a separate dollars account? So if you were paid $60 and you received £50 (made up exchange rate) thats what you count.

Please don't correct a qualified tax advisor without checking your facts first. If you earn less than £1000 you don't need to report it. If you earn more than £1000 you can deduct the £1000 trading allowance or your actual allowable expenses, obviously you deduct whichever is higher.

Please don't rely on AI , it's often wrong. You can find the online tax return form by googling 'fill in online tax return' . You will set up an account and answer the questions one by one. I t can take a while if you have income from several sources but it's pretty straightforward.

https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns