Voluntary Class 2 National Insurance: Worth It in 2026/27?
Voluntary Class 2 NI costs £189.80 for 2026/27. If profits dipped below the small profits threshold, it may be the cheapest pension year you can buy.
Tax & HMRC
Fifty-odd guides sit under this heading. They answer four questions, in this order.
Do I have to file at all? Whether you need to send a return and what the £1,000 trading allowance actually covers settle it for most people. Side income from a platform has its own wrinkle: Vinted, eBay and Etsy now report sellers to HMRC, and the line between a hobby and a business is not about how you describe it.
How do I file it? Filing your first Self Assessment, step by step is the sequence, including the 5 October registration deadline that catches people four months before they think about tax. Your UTR arrives by post around fifteen days after you register, so the order matters. Which return you are filing and when it is due, and if you miss it, what the penalties actually come to.
What do I owe, and what can I take off? Income tax bands for 2026/27, National Insurance, and how much to set aside as you go. On the other side: allowable expenses, the ones that are not allowable, simplified flat rates and capital allowances. If the bill is over £1,000, payments on account add half again — and you can reduce them when the year is going to be worse.
What is changing? Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is the big one, with quarterly deadlines and a points-based penalty system that works nothing like the old one. And if you cannot pay, Time to Pay exists and works better before the deadline than after.
Every figure on these pages links to its HMRC source and carries the date it was checked. General information, not tax advice.
Autumn Budget 2025 Self-Employed: What Actually Changed
Most of the Autumn Budget 2025 headlines do not touch a sole trader’s tax bill. A few do — and one of them matters more than the coverage suggested.
Splitting Income With a Spouse When Self-Employed
Marriage Allowance is worth up to £252 a year for filling in one form — and it is the first thing to check before splitting income in riskier ways.
GoSimpleTax Review 2026: Worth It vs the Free HMRC Portal?
GoSimpleTax lets sole traders file Self Assessment straight to HMRC without the gov.uk portal. The current price, and what it actually does.
What Is the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)?
A subcontractor gets paid 20% less than the invoice they sent. Nobody stole anything — that is the Construction Industry Scheme working as designed.
UTR Number Explained: What It Is and How to Get One
Your UTR number arrives around 15 days after registering for Self Assessment. Where to find it, how to recover it — and the 30% CIS rate without one.
When To Switch From Sole Trader To Limited Company
The real 2026/27 Corporation Tax and dividend tax numbers behind switching from sole trader to limited company — with a worked example, not a rule of thumb.
VAT Flat Rate Scheme: Rates and the 16.5% Trap
The VAT Flat Rate Scheme sounds simpler than standard VAT — but the 16.5% limited cost trader rate catches many freelancers out. Here’s how it works.
Sole Trader vs Freelancer vs Contractor: The Difference
Freelancer and contractor aren’t legal terms — sole trader is. Here’s how gov.uk’s real categories map onto the job titles people actually use.
Self-Employed Mileage Allowance: 2026/27 Rates
The self-employed mileage allowance is 55p a mile (first 10,000) for 2026/27 — up from 45p. What sole traders can claim, and when actual costs win instead.
Side Hustle Tax UK: When You Must Declare It
Side hustle tax UK: it hinges on one number, £1,000. Exactly when online selling, freelancing or gig income needs declaring to HMRC.
Self Assessment Deadlines: Which Return Are You Filing?
The Self Assessment return being filed now covers 2025/26, due online by 31 January 2027. Every date, which tax year it belongs to, and what lands in January.