When I got let go (read: fired) from a previous role at the outset of lockdown in April 2020, the sudden abundance of free time caused me to go a little mad. I began to question why I even wanted to stay in journalism.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy writing and I love my current role. But my previous job had knocked my confidence in my writing ability, and I began to wonder if this forcibly obtained career break might be a chance to reinvent myself.
I started to look into whether I could become an extra as a way to get into acting, despite having had no prior interest in this as a career.
I even got approached for ‘Miss British Isles’. Imagine. I also looked into being one of the zombie actors at Shocktoberfest – a big scream park held at a farm in Sussex around Halloween. That would’ve been super fun.
In the end, I stayed in journalism, got a job at Money Marketing and the rest is history. But I hadn’t let go of the idea of extra work on the side. I need to fund my extravagant travel plans somehow. That is, until recently.
HMRC has now brought in new rules that mean people making a “side hustle” could end up paying tax on their earnings.
As reported by Which?, this is part of a global clampdown on tax evasion.
From this month, digital platforms that allow people to make extra cash on top of their main income will be ordered to give HMRC users’ information.
This will impact everyone from holiday rental hosts and delivery drivers to sellers on online marketplaces and freelancers. And maybe even zombies at scream parks.
I was a freelance journalist for a year and I made the mistake of not hiring an accountant when filing my tax return and it was an absolute nightmare.
I was living at my parents’ house at the time so I couldn’t claim any expenses back, and my situation wasn’t very complicated – I was just a sole trader trading under my own name. But filling out a tax return even for that was not straightforward.
I hadn’t realised that HMRC takes forward payments unless you opt out of them, for example. So when my tax bill first landed it was nearly double what I had expected. What’s more, it is almost impossible to get hold of HMRC on the phone.
I did get that issue sorted but it took a lot of time and caused a lot of stress.
So the fact that side hustles are now going to be taxed in the same way would likely put me off.
Which? points out that those who earn extra income from side hustles now need to watch out for deadlines.
The deadline for filing a paper tax return is 31 October. The cut-off date for both filing an online tax return and paying the bill is 31 January.
If you miss the deadline for filing, you will incur an initial £100 penalty, senior writer Matthew Jenkin writes, in an article for Which?. After three months, this increases to £10 per day (for up to 90 days). Further penalties are triggered if your return is more than six or 12 months late.
On top of these, you’ll likely also face late payment charges if you haven’t paid your tax bill by 31 January, he says.
You’ll be charged daily interest (at the Bank of England base rate plus 2.5%) from the date the payment was due. That’s currently set at 7.75%. There may be further penalties if you’re several months late paying your tax bill.
For now, I think I’ll forget about trying to become an extra in a costume drama, enter a pageant or do a stint as a monster at a scream park. I’m not ruling it out forever, though.
