From April 2017, there will be two new tax-free £1,000 allowances – one for selling goods or providing services, and one income from property you own.
People who make up to £1,000 from occasional jobs – such as sharing power tools, providing a lift share or selling goods they have made – will no longer need to pay tax on that income.
In the same way, the first £1,000 of income from property – such as renting a driveway or loft storage – will be tax free.
Under the new allowances, from April next year individuals with property or trading income won’t need to declare or pay tax on the first £1,000 they earn from each source per year. Should they earn more than that amount they will have to declare it, but they can still take advantage of the allowance.
According to http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/21/sharing-economy-1000-tax-free-allowances-ebay-airbnb-micro-entrepreneurs
The Treasury has said that they new relief will be for “self-starters”, from mothers who supplement their income with a bake sale to those who do some trading on eBay.
A spokesman said: “Property income would come about from any income that you make from renting out a residence, home, building, property or land – so you could rent out your driveway as a parking space. You can rent out your home to tourists, which is the Airbnb bit. Or you can rent out your garden space.” He added: “Trading income covers any sale of goods or services. You could do tasks such as cleaning or odd jobs, hiring out your own equipment such as power tools, or selling goods through a website like TaskRabbit, Etsy [or] eBay.” The government claims 700,000 people will benefit from the new tax break, a figure based on self-assessment data from HMRC.
