WHAT EARNINGS ARE TAX FREE?

The Government is set to introduce a new £1,000 tax free allowance on any “gig” earnings (and £1,000 for property income too) from April 2018, but this is not yet law.

if you let a room you can currently earn £7,500 a year tax free provided you do not let your whole property (likely to be cut to £1,000 if you are letting through airbnb). to check you qualify visit gov.uk/rent-room in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme.

anything you sell that you no longer need or want provided you only sell these personal possessions occasionally: so flogging your skiwear on gumtree will be tax free. however if you start buying and selling skiwear you will be “trading” and that means you need to declare this income and pay tax as a business. visit gov.uk/income-from-sellingservices-online to check out the rules.

do you need to tell the taxman? yes: if you are “trading”. ideally you should register with hmrc as self-employed when you start. however, if you haven’t done so, you must register by 5 october for the tax year just ended on 5 april 2017. then fill in the self-employment pages of your tax return. visit gov.uk/log-in-fileself-assessment-tax-return/register-ifyoure-not-self-employed to get started.