Online Surveys

If you spend time in front of the computer then you could make money taking part in online surveys
Great if you need an element of flexibility. Perfect way for a new mum to earn money
You could earn up to £500 for doing each one
As well as earning cash, you can win prizes

Need to know

• NEVER pay to join an online survey site
• Sign up to loads of sites, as many as you can, as you won’t always be the profile that they are looking for.  I.e they are not likely to ask a 21 year old about SAGA holidays
• Set up a separate email address e.g. Outlook or Gmail. They're free and perfect for something like this. You WILL get bombarded with SPAM
• Make sure you check your emails regularly. Sometimes they need someone really quickly and often their systems favour you for speedy response
• Most don’t allow access to your earnings until you hit a threshold of about £10
• To make it even more convenient most survey companies also have apps so you can complete them on your phone!
• It can take up to an hour to do some surveys – usually the longer it takes, the greater the rewards

The tax bit

• Regardless of the amount you think you’ll earn from these surveys, the first thing you should do is register with HMRC as self-employed. This will mean that you will have to start filling in a self-assessment tax return each year. This is not as official or scary as it might sound!
• Registration is REALLY easy so don't be put off by this hurdle. 0300 200 3300 and someone will talk you through the process (it can take a while to get through!! but they are very helpful so worth the wait) or register online. Lines are open 8am-8pm Monday to Friday and 8am-4pm on Saturdays and you should have your National Insurance number handy

• If you have no other income at all then you can earn up to £10,600 tax free. Make sure you keep a record of all of your earnings and all of your expenses. You can offset any expenses exclusively related to this work. For example, things like buying a scanner or printer are tax free. If in doubt call the number above. They are really helpful and will talk you through ANYTHING
• You should also be aware of your National Insurance contributions. Earning anything over £5725, you’ll need to pay £2.70 a week and over £7755 you’ll pay 9% of your income (capped at £41,450). Registration is SO simple. You can set up your payments when you register for self-assessment or you can call the NI hotline on 0300 200 3505. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm