Tutoring is subject to taxation laws in the UK, the same as any form of income. You are legally required to declare any income you make from tutoring. We will be giving you a few tips on how best to navigate the gov.uk website portal and the reasoning behind these steps.

It is important to note that we are not accountants, financial advisors or professionals in giving taxation advice. This is simply from our experience of working with the authorities on how best to declare, navigate and ultimately submit tax returns.

The majority of tutors at this moment in time are fully employed and tutor as a self-employed pursuit outside of their full time employment. The usual route to do this is to register as a self-employed sole trader with the UK government. Once registered, you will receive documentation in the Post as well as a Unique Customer Reference Number which you should hold onto. Your unique Customer Reference Number is used to access your record when it comes time to declare your income in the Self-Assessment Form. The Self-Assessment Form needs to be completed by 5th April of every calendar year.

Expenses

You are required to report all income that you make from tutoring, however you are expected to keep track of your expenses as well and to include this information in your form.

Some examples of accepted forms of expenses include:

• Teaching materials e.g. notebooks, pens etc.
• Textbooks
• Travel to sessions
• Food between sessions
• You can calculate a percentage of your home utility bills (depending on the proportion of time used for tutoring)
• Legal and financial costs e.g. insurance etc.
• Subscriptions - for the purpose of tutoring of course (not Netflix!)
• Marketing costs
• Clothing expenses (if you have a uniform)

The records that you keep as a sole trader, which should be kept for 5 years after the tax submission deadlines, include: all income from tutoring, all of your expenses; you can pay as one lump sum rather than individual items and other records from other income sources e.g. P60

For more information on declaring your income as a tutor in the Self-Assessment Form, check the government website for details

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