Side hustle income has to be declared to HMRC once your gross trading income passes the £1,000 trading allowance in a tax year (2026/27); letting income has a separate £1,000 property allowance (2026/27). For money earned in 2025/26 you register by 5 October 2026 and file and pay by 31 January 2027. Online platforms have reported sellers to HMRC every January since January 2025, and a report is a data point, not a bill. Correct as at 13 September 2026.
Do I need to declare side hustle income?
You must tell HMRC once everything you were paid across every platform and activity, before costs, is more than £1,000 in a tax year (2026/27). The £1,000 trading allowance is the line between a hobby HMRC does not need to hear about and a trade that must be registered.
It is one allowance across all your hustles, measured on gross receipts rather than profit. HMRC's Tax Help for Hustles campaign gives its own example: £800 from content creation plus £500 from selling crafts is £1,300, over the line.
HMRC's additional income checker is the tool to run first; it lists the income types and says whether HMRC needs to hear from you.
Will HMRC find out about my side hustle?
Since 1 January 2024 digital platforms operating in the UK have had to collect sellers' details and report them to HMRC by 31 January each year. Vinted, eBay, Etsy or Airbnb, along with delivery, tutoring or freelance apps, all fall within GOV.UK's definition of a platform.
The exception is for goods only and has two limbs (GOV.UK, the platform operator rules): you are left out if you made fewer than 30 sales of goods in the calendar year and received a total of 2,000 euros or less (GOV.UK says about £1,700) for them. Anyone paid for a service, or for letting property or transport, is reported regardless of volume. The platform collects your identity details and and must give you a copy of what it sent by 31 January.
GOV.UK's own words: a platform reporting your details to HMRC does not automatically mean you owe tax. The report covers 1 January to 31 December; your return covers 6 April to 5 April, so the platform figure is never copied straight onto the return. Platform data feeds HMRC's one-to-many letters.
Is selling my own things on Vinted or eBay taxable?
Selling your own unwanted possessions is not trading, so there is normally no Income Tax and nothing to report however many items you sell. HMRC's guidance on income from online platforms draws the line: clearing out the attic is not a trade; buying secondhand items intending to resell at a profit is; so is making things to sell, including things made for a hobby.
The one exception is Capital Gains Tax on a single possession, or a matched set, sold for £6,000 or more: jewellery, paintings, antiques, coins or stamps. A gain above the £3,000 annual exempt amount (2026/27) is reported through Self Assessment.
How much can you earn from a side hustle before paying tax in the UK?
Up to £1,000 of gross trading income a year is covered by the trading allowance (2026/27). Above that, the profit is added to your other income and taxed at your marginal rate (our tax calculator shows the band). For an employee whose salary already uses the £12,570 personal allowance (2026/27), that means tax from the first pound of profit: 20% inside the basic rate band to £50,270, 40% to £125,140 and 45% above (2026/27).
Above £1,000 you deduct either the flat £1,000 or your actual costs, never both. Class 4 National Insurance is 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above (2026/27). Class 2 National Insurance is not charged: at £7,105 of profit or more (2026/27) it is treated as paid, and below that nothing is due but you can pay voluntary Class 2 at £3.65 a week to keep the year on your National Insurance record.
What about renting a room, or letting a flat on Airbnb?
Letting a furnished room in the home you live in is covered by the Rent a Room Scheme up to £7,500 a year, or £3,750 if the income is shared (2026/27). Above it you must complete a tax return and choose between opting into the scheme or recording income and expenses on the property pages. The scheme does not cover homes converted into separate flats, and the £1,000 property allowance cannot be used on the same room income.
Letting a property you do not live in, including a whole flat on Airbnb, is ordinary property income. Gross property income of £1,000 or less needs no report; between £1,000 and £2,500 GOV.UK says contact HMRC; over £2,500 you register for Self Assessment. Property income is taxed at 20%, 40% and 45% for 2026/27; the rates move to 22%, 42% and 47% from 6 April 2027.
When do I have to register and file?
For income earned in 2025/26 (6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026) you must register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2026, file the online return by 31 January 2027 and pay by the same date.
| Income type | Allowance (2026/27) | Gross figure at which you must act | What to do and by when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selling your own possessions | None needed; not normally Income Tax | A single item or set sold for £6,000 or more | Check Capital Gains Tax; a gain above the £3,000 annual exempt amount is reported through Self Assessment |
| Goods you made or bought to sell (Vinted, eBay, Etsy) | Trading allowance £1,000 | Over £1,000 gross | Register for Self Assessment as a sole trader by 5 October |
| Services and content (tutoring, delivery, dog walking, social media) | The same £1,000 trading allowance, shared with the row above | Over £1,000 combined | Register by 5 October |
| Letting a room in your own home | Rent a Room £7,500 (£3,750 shared) | Over £7,500 | Complete a tax return and choose the scheme or the property pages |
| Letting a property you do not live in (a whole flat on Airbnb, a buy to let) | Property allowance £1,000 | £1,000 to £2,500: contact HMRC; over £2,500: register | Register for Self Assessment by 5 October |
| Combined gross self-employment and property income | n/a | Over £50,000 on the 2024/25 return | Already in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026; £30,000 from 6 April 2027, £20,000 from 6 April 2028 |
A first bill of £1,000 or more brings two advance payments for the following year, unless more than 80% of your tax was collected at source, for example through PAYE. They are known as payments on account. Combined gross self-employment and property income over £50,000 is already inside Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026.
Example: £4,000 of handmade sales with £1,500 of costs
Example. A part-time maker on a salary that already uses her personal allowance took £4,000 through Etsy in 2025/26, with £1,500 of materials and postage. Gross income is over £1,000, so she must register by 5 October 2026 and file and pay by 31 January 2027.
Route A, the trading allowance: £4,000 less £1,000 = £3,000 taxable profit; at 20% = £600. Route B, actual expenses: £4,000 less £1,500 = £2,500 taxable profit; at 20% = £500 (2026/27 rates, unchanged from 2025/26). She claims expenses, and the difference is £100.
Her profit is below the £12,570 Class 4 threshold and below the £6,845 small profits threshold for 2025/26, the year of the example, so there is nothing to pay; she can pay voluntary Class 2 at the 2025/26 rate of £3.50 a week if she wants the year on her National Insurance record (for 2026/27 the figures are £7,105 and £3.65). A bill of £500 is under £1,000, so no payments on account arise.
Etsy's report to HMRC by 31 January 2026 covered calendar 2025; her return runs 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026, so she works from her own sales records.
Is the £3,000 threshold in force yet?
No. The government announced on 11 March 2025 that the Self Assessment reporting threshold for trading income would rise from £1,000 to £3,000 gross within this parliament, with a new online service for the band between; no start date has been legislated, so for 2025/26 and 2026/27 the £1,000 test applies. A higher reporting threshold removes the return, not the tax; the background is in our note on the Self Assessment thresholds and the planned £3,000 change.
What to do now
Add up your gross receipts from every platform and every side activity for 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026, before costs, from your own records rather than the platform's calendar-year statement. If the total is over £1,000, run HMRC's checker and register for Self Assessment before 5 October 2026; you can do all of that yourself.
Take advice where the question is whether an activity is a trade at all, where the allowance-versus-expenses choice runs across several income types, where a possession or set went for £6,000 or more, where an Airbnb let is a whole property, or where HMRC has already written.
What we do if you ask us to look at it
We ask first for the platform's annual statement, the copy every platform must give you, and a plain list of what was sold, made, done or let. We then work out which bucket each stream sits in (personal possessions, trading, property or Rent a Room) and whether the £1,000 allowance or actual expenses gives the lower taxable figure.
If the gross figure is £1,000 or under we say so: there is nothing to register and nothing to file. If registration is needed, we register you as a sole trader, prepare the return from your records reconciled to the 6 April to 5 April year, file it, and explain the payment on account if the first bill is £1,000 or more; the deadlines are 5 October for registration and 31 January for filing and payment (our accounting and Self Assessment service).
If HMRC has already written, we read the letter with you, check the years and income it names against the platform statements, and handle the disclosure through the route the letter calls for. If HMRC has already opened an enquiry into whether an activity is a trade, we say at the first conversation what we can and cannot take on; if we cannot help, we will say so.
Frequently Asked Questions
Platforms have reported sellers' details and totals to HMRC by 31 January each year since the rules started on 1 January 2024, with the first reports in January 2025. Goods sellers with fewer than 30 sales and 2,000 euros or less in a calendar year are left out; services and property lets are not.
Gross trading income of £1,000 or less (2026/27) is covered by the trading allowance and does not have to be reported. The allowance is one figure across all trades and platforms, not one per platform.
No. Profit is added to your other income and taxed at 20%, 40% or 45% depending on the band it lands in (2026/27), and Class 4 National Insurance at 6% applies on profits over £12,570 (2026/27).
Selling your own clothes and belongings is not trading and normally carries no Income Tax however many items you sell. Buying to resell, or making to sell, is trading and counts against the £1,000 allowance (2026/27).
Talk to Zaman Khan about your side income
The first conversation covers what you sell or let, what the platforms have sent you and what your own records show. Zaman Khan, Senior Manager, handles this work. Call 020 8554 2135, email info@visionconsulting.co.uk or use the contact page.
About Vision Consulting. Vision Consulting is a firm of chartered accountants and registered auditors, regulated by ICAEW, with offices in the City of London (the Gherkin, 30 St Mary Axe), the West End (33 Cavendish Square) and Gants Hill, Ilford. The firm provides year-end accounts, bookkeeping, payroll and tax compliance, including Making Tax Digital and VAT, for individuals, landlords, directors and businesses. Its specialist teams provide audit and assurance (company and charity audits and audit-exemption advice), probate and estate administration (the firm is licensed for non-contentious probate), inheritance-tax and estate planning, HMRC tax investigations and voluntary disclosures, property and landlord taxation, and corporation-tax and company advisory.
By the Vision Consulting team.
This is general information, not advice. Your position depends on your circumstances. Speak to us before acting on anything here.