Tax related by not strictly contract work

[dav]

If someone was to earn around £300 per month online from purely legal methods such as cpa advertising and google adwords, a little bit of link building for some private clients etc all paid through paypal but not declare this, would it be enough to cause a fuss about?

If this person want to "go clean" so to speak and started to declare it from next month would that be okay? As its just a small amount could it realistically be said that its just breaking even as some tools/private forums memberships and tutorials were bought at an outlay several months ago and the money still needs to be made back on these.

Once I understand how to deal with the past I can look to the future!

Thanks for reading

[Sockpuppet]

If someone was to earn around £300 per month online from purely legal methods such as cpa advertising and google adwords, a little bit of link building for some private clients etc all paid through paypal but not declare this, would it be enough to cause a fuss about?

If this person want to "go clean" so to speak and started to declare it from next month would that be okay? As its just a small amount could it realistically be said that its just breaking even as some tools/private forums memberships and tutorials were bought at an outlay several months ago and the money still needs to be made back on these.

Once I understand how to deal with the past I can look to the future!

Thanks for reading

Just put it on your tax return. You would also have to register as self employed so might be easier to stick it through the company books.

Personally I wouldn't bother and would just keep quiet.

[Taxless]

Come clean

Dav,

You have no legal alternative but to declare the income and all allowable expenditure and pay tax on the difference.

There are many legal ways to reduce your tax liability, but simply not returning it is not a reasonable alternative.

HMRC are working much smarter these days and have also obtained some nice new hobnail boots, so two words of warning.

1. HMRC apparently have a piece of software sitting on Ebay which tracks all transactions back to the sellers bank account, so it doesn't take a great leap of imagination to suggest that your activities may also come up on the radar. Always better to tell them before they come looking for you, which takes me to warning two.

2. In the case of Steed v The Crown
(Steed v R. [2011] EWCA Crim 75 (01 February 2011)), a failure to notify liability to HMRC of around £3,558, led to confiscation proceedings for more than £700,000 or 4 years in jail!

Sockpuppet appears to imply that in a similar position he would commit a Money Laundering offence.

Let's hope HMRC aren't reading this.