The taxman has put out an alert for millions of people
A new mum whose wedding day sparked a thriving business has warned thousands of people with side hustles to check whether they have crossed HMRC’s crucial £1,000 tax threshold. Lianna Dickson, 30, launched a wedding content creation business after regretting not hiring someone to capture behind-the-scenes moments at her own wedding.
But as bookings flooded in, she realised her extra income had sailed past HMRC’s £1,000 trading allowance, meaning she had to register for Self Assessment and declare her earnings. Her warning comes as HMRC launches a fresh campaign urging millions of people earning money from side hustles – from selling handmade goods and baking cakes to influencing on social media and photographing weddings – to make sure they are paying the right tax.
The taxman says anyone earning more than £1,000 a year from all their side hustles combined may need to complete a Self Assessment tax return. Lianna, from Livingston, who is currently on maternity leave from her job in influencer marketing, said she realised she needed to act as soon as her business began taking off.
She said: “As soon as I started booking in a number of weddings I knew this was going to be a decent amount of extra money. I read a lot of information on GOV.UK and HMRC’s website. Once I realised my income was over the £1,000 trading allowance, I knew I’d need to complete a Self Assessment tax return. Everything online was super easy to understand.”
Her company, Captured By Fifteen, films behind-the-scenes moments on couples’ wedding days using a smartphone before delivering edited highlights within 24 hours. The business proved an instant success, with Lianna covering almost 50 weddings in her first year.
She admitted she had expected completing her tax return to be a major ordeal but found it surprisingly straightforward after keeping detailed records. She said: “I had my tax return done within the hour. It was so much easier than I thought it would be.
“I thought I would need to input every single transaction and that it would take hours, but it wasn’t the case at all – I had been keeping record of all the numbers, so it was really just a case of filling in information and copying the figures over.”
Her advice to anyone earning money on the side is to keep careful records from the outset. She added: “Just keep track of everything and speak to someone who understands the process – or look up videos of someone explaining it if you struggle with just reading things.”
HMRC says the £1,000 trading allowance applies to total side hustle income, not each activity separately. That means someone earning £600 photographing weddings and another £500 from creating social media content would exceed the limit and may need to register for Self Assessment because their combined income totals £1,100.
However, simply selling unwanted personal possessions, such as clearing out a wardrobe or loft, will not normally trigger a tax bill. The rules are more likely to apply where people regularly buy or make goods to sell for profit or provide services in return for payment.
Kevin Hubbard, HMRC’s Director of Small Business and Individuals, said: “For many people, a side hustle is a valuable source of extra income. If you’re earning more than £1,000 a year from your side hustle it’s important to understand your tax responsibilities, and HMRC wants to make that as straightforward as possible.
“You can check if you need to do a Self Assessment tax return by using the tool on GOV.UK. It takes minutes to use, tells you exactly what you need to do and means no unexpected tax bills later.”
Anyone registering for Self Assessment for the first time for the 2025-26 tax year must sign up by October 5 2026, with online tax returns and any tax owed due by January 31 2027. HMRC estimates that one in ten people in Britain are operating in the hidden economy, while research found almost two-thirds were largely unaware they may have needed to register for tax.
Many mistakenly believed their earnings were too small to matter or that irregular income did not need to be declared – misconceptions the taxman is now trying to stamp out before side hustlers are hit with unexpected demands. More information here.
