Side Hustle Tax: The 5 October Deadline Most People Miss

If you made more than £1,000 from a side hustle in the 2025/26 tax year and you have not told HMRC, your deadline to register is 5 October 2026.

That is registration, not filing. Once registered you have until 31 January 2027 to submit the return and pay. But you cannot file if you have not registered, and registration takes time to process.

This matters more than it used to, because HMRC now gets the data whether you tell them or not.

What the platforms report about you

Since January 2026, digital platforms have been required to report seller data directly to HMRC. That includes eBay, Vinted, Etsy, Depop, Airbnb, Uber, Deliveroo and similar services.

They report your name, address, date of birth, national insurance or tax reference where held, the number of transactions, and how much you were paid.

So the question is no longer whether HMRC will find out. It is whether what they already have matches what you have declared.

The £1,000 figure, and the £3,000 confusion

The trading allowance is £1,000. If your gross income from self-employment or casual trading was £1,000 or less across the whole tax year, you generally do not need to register or declare it.

You will have seen a lot of coverage about a £3,000 threshold. Be careful with this. It has been announced as a plan, but it is not law and it is not in force. It also would not do what most articles imply — the proposal is about who has to file a full Self Assessment return, not about how much you can earn tax-free. The £1,000 trading allowance is what applies now.

If you have read that you can earn £3,000 before declaring anything, that is wrong. Check your own position with our HMRC and Self Assessment checker.

Gross, not profit

The £1,000 is measured on what you were paid, before you take off costs.

So if you sold £1,400 of handmade items on Etsy and spent £600 on materials, your profit is £800 — but your gross income is £1,400, and you are over the threshold. You need to register.

Once you are registered you can then choose either to claim the £1,000 trading allowance instead of expenses, or to deduct your actual costs — whichever leaves you better off.

Selling your own second-hand things is different

This is the biggest source of unnecessary worry, so it is worth being clear.

Clearing out your wardrobe and selling old clothes on Vinted is not trading. You are disposing of personal possessions, usually for less than you paid. There is no income tax on that, however many items you sell.

What makes it trading is buying or making things in order to sell them at a profit, doing it with some regularity, and organising it like a business. HMRC look at the pattern and the intention, not just the total.

If you are genuinely unsure which side of the line you are on, that is a good reason to get free advice rather than guess — our self-employed rights checker covers the trading tests.

What happens if you miss 5 October

Registering late is not automatically a penalty, but it makes the January filing deadline harder to meet, and missing that triggers an automatic £100 penalty even if you owe no tax at all. Daily penalties follow after three months.

If you have failed to declare income from earlier years, coming forward voluntarily is treated far more favourably than being found. HMRC's penalties for a deliberate, concealed failure are much heavier than for an unprompted disclosure.

Other income that catches people out

Renting a room. The Rent a Room scheme lets you earn up to £7,500 a year tax-free from letting furnished accommodation in your own home. Above that you must declare it.

Property income. Separate £1,000 property allowance. Airbnb income counts here or under Rent a Room depending on the arrangement.

Making Tax Digital. If your combined self-employment and property income is above the threshold, you will be brought into quarterly digital reporting. Check whether and when it applies to you — the thresholds are being phased down.

What to do this week

Work out your gross income from each platform for 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026. Add them together. If the total from trading is over £1,000, register for Self Assessment on GOV.UK before 5 October.

Keep records — invoices, receipts, platform statements, bank entries. You do not send them in, but you need them if asked, and they are what let you claim expenses properly.

If money is tight, you have other debts and you are worried about a bill you cannot pay, HMRC's Time to Pay arrangement lets you spread it. Ask before the deadline rather than after.

Free help: HMRC's Self Assessment helpline, Citizens Advice on 0800 144 8848, and TaxAid on 0345 120 3779 for people on low incomes.