For UK self-publishers: do you pay tax?

hi
If you have any self employed income , you need to register with the tax man. If your income is small you can get a "short form". It's just two pages , money in and money out . You are taxed on your total income , so if you have a regular job as well, your self employed income will be added to it . You will need to keep a record of your income and expenditure , this only needs to be two exercise books. One marked in and the other out and you will also need to keep all invoices etc , for seven years , to support your book entries. It is also possible just not to bother ,and never get discoverer. But if you are, you will be penalised by the tax man and your be in their spot light . So I would sugest , fill in the form , pay them something and your have no problems . The tax people are actuly OK and will give you all the information you need and I have found that they seem quite happy to help with any inquiries.

I registered as self-employed. My business name is my writing name. I do my tax return once a year online. They don't need that much information if it's a low amount (they won't need your detailed accounts, just basic details and the totals... you do need to keep details though, in case you get checked). The online form also only shows you the sections you need to fill in, based on your answers.

It's worth going through the official website, as it does explain everything clearly. Just follow the instructions and take it one step at a time. So register as self-employed, register your account for online returns, and be ready with your accounts book when it's time to file.

There's no threshold on when earnings have to be reported. I earn tiny amounts and haven't needed to pay tax yet, but I do the returns each year. If you have other income, it's possible together they'll push you into a different tax bracket, but the online system should figure that out.

I submit tax returns and pay taxes on my self-published income.