The short answer
- Register by 5 OctoberIf you earned more than £1000 from caring privately in a tax year, tell HMRC by 5 October the following year, or you risk a penalty.
- Log every payment as it landsYour PrimeCarers dashboard records what you were paid before tax, but any other client or agency needs its own note of the date, hours and amount.
- Two dates matter most31 January for your return and any balancing payment, and 31 July for a second payment on account if HMRC has asked for one.
- Claim what brings the bill downMileage between clients at 55p a mile, protective clothing, and a fair share of your phone all reduce what you're taxed on.
Figures are HMRC and gov.uk rules for the 2026/27 tax year, checked 6 September 2026.
Getting registered
Check you're self-employed, then tell HMRC
Most private carers, whether found through PrimeCarers or arranged directly with a family, are self-employed rather than an employee of anyone. The test is about control: if you work for more than one client, set your own rate and decide how the work gets done, you are almost certainly self-employed, and it is worth checking gov.uk's guidance yourself since the rules occasionally change.
- 1
Check your employment status
Before your first bookingWorking for multiple clients, setting your own rate and not being supervised are all signs of self-employment. If none of that fits, for example a single family pays you a fixed wage and tells you exactly when to work, you may be their employee instead, and different rules apply. - 2
Register for Self Assessment
By 5 OctoberDo this online with HMRC once you have earned more than £1000 from self-employment in a tax year. The deadline is 5 October after the end of the tax year in which you started, so a carer who took a first payment in July 2026 has until 5 October 2027 to register, though there is no reason to wait that long. - 3
Keep your Unique Taxpayer Reference safe
Arrives by postHMRC sends this ten-digit number after you register. You need it every time you file a return or contact HMRC about your tax, so keep it somewhere you will find again. - 4
File your first return
31 JanuaryYour first Self Assessment return covers the tax year in which you registered and is due by the following 31 January, alongside any tax owed.
Your Unique Taxpayer Reference usually arrives by post about 15 days after you register, though it can take longer at busy times of year. Check your personal tax account or the HMRC app before assuming the letter has gone missing, since the number often shows there first. Since 9 February 2026, anyone registering for the first time signs in with a GOV.UK One Login, an email address and a password, rather than a Government Gateway user ID. If you already have a Government Gateway account, keep using it until HMRC tells you it is your turn to switch.
If you also have a job where an employer pays you through PAYE, that does not stop you being self-employed for your caring work. Tax already taken off your payslip still counts, and your return brings the two together so nothing is taxed twice. Self-employed carer documents covers the paperwork worth having ready before you register, and what insurance does a self-employed home carer need? covers cover while you work, which is a separate question from tax.
Tracking what you earn
Keep a record of every payment, not just the total
HMRC wants a figure for your total self-employed income for the year, but you get there by adding up individual payments, so the record you keep during the year matters more than anything you do in January.
What to note down as you go
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From PrimeCarers
From any other client or agency
As the year goes
This page is about your own earnings and your own tax. If a client also asks you to manage their money, for example paying bills or handling a shopping budget, that is a different responsibility with its own risks, and handling money for clients safely covers it separately. What can carers earn on PrimeCarers? sets out how rates are typically structured if you are still deciding what to charge.
Tax and National Insurance
What you owe on your self-employed profit
You are taxed on profit, meaning what you were paid minus any allowable business expenses, not on the raw total you were sent. The rates below are the same ones that apply to any self-employed person in the UK.
| Rate | What it applies to | |
|---|---|---|
| Personal allowance | 0% | On the first £12,570 of your income for the year, from all sources combined. |
| Basic rate Income Tax | 20% | On profit between £12,570 and £50,270. |
| Higher rate Income Tax | 40% | On profit between £50,270 and £125,140. |
| Class 4 National Insurance | 6% | On profit between £12,570 and £50,270. |
| Class 4 National Insurance | 2% | On profit above £50,270. |
Personal allowance
- Rate
- 0%
- What it applies to
- On the first £12,570 of your income for the year, from all sources combined.
Basic rate Income Tax
- Rate
- 20%
- What it applies to
- On profit between £12,570 and £50,270.
Higher rate Income Tax
- Rate
- 40%
- What it applies to
- On profit between £50,270 and £125,140.
Class 4 National Insurance
- Rate
- 6%
- What it applies to
- On profit between £12,570 and £50,270.
Class 4 National Insurance
- Rate
- 2%
- What it applies to
- On profit above £50,270.
Rates for the 2026/27 tax year, 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance are both worked out on your Self Assessment return and paid together. Checked against gov.uk, 6 September 2026.
The dates in your year
The four dates that move money or paperwork
A self-employed carer's tax year runs on the same four fixed points every year, whatever month you personally started working. Missing the two marked below is what leads to a penalty.
- 6 Apr
The tax year starts
Start a record from your first paid visit: the date, the client, the hours and what you were paid before any deductions.
- 5 Oct
Register for Self Assessment
Deadline to tell HMRC if you took your first self-employed payment in the tax year that has just ended and earned more than £1000.
- 31 Jan
File your return and pay
Your online return for the tax year that ended the previous 5 April is due, along with any balancing payment and, if HMRC has asked for one, your first payment on account.
- 31 Jul
Second payment on account
Only if HMRC set payments on account after your last return: half of what you are expected to owe for the current year, paid in advance.
What you can claim
What brings your tax bill down
Expenses reduce the profit you're taxed on, so keeping the receipts is worth the small amount of admin. The test HMRC applies is whether a cost was wholly and exclusively for your work as a carer.
Usually allowable
- Mileage driving between clients, at the flat rate of 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles in a tax year and 25p a mile after that
- Protective clothing and equipment bought for work, such as gloves and aprons, and a uniform such as a care tunic
- A reasonable business share of your phone bill, if you use it to arrange or carry out visits
- Specialist training directly related to caring
- Public liability insurance and any professional subscriptions
Usually not allowable
- Travel between home and a fixed place of work, such as the same client every day. Your first journey to a changing round of clients can be different, and depends on the facts
- Everyday clothes and shoes, including comfortable or non-slip shoes and plain trousers, even if you keep them only for work
- Meals, unless you are away from your usual pattern of work overnight
- The part of your phone or car costs that is personal rather than business use
Allowable expenses for self-employed carers goes through each of these against HMRC's own manual, including when the drive from home to your first client can count. gov.uk's guide to expenses if you're self-employed sets out the full list, including what happens if you use a vehicle for both business and personal driving.
Filling it in
Filling in the return, step by step
The online return is broken into short sections, and HMRC's own walkthroughs show it better than a written description can. Gather what you need first, so you are not stopping halfway through to look for it.
Before you sign in
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From HMRC
Your own records
If you had a PAYE job during the year as well as your own clients, watch for the employment section. It asks whether you had another job, and saying yes opens a part of the form for that employer's figures. They are usually filled in from what your employer reported, so check them rather than assume they are right.
If your return does not fit a simple pattern, for example several income sources, large expenses, or doubt about whether something counts as self-employment at all, an accountant is worth paying for, particularly the first time you file.
Paying what you owe
How to pay HMRC, and what to do if you cannot
Submitting the return tells HMRC what you owe. Paying it is a separate step, and it does not happen by itself.
| How fast it clears | |
|---|---|
| Online banking, telephone banking (Faster Payments) or CHAPS | Same or next day |
| Debit card, or a corporate credit card, paid online | Same or next day |
| At your bank or building society, with an HMRC paying-in slip | Same or next day |
| Bacs transfer | 3 working days |
| Direct Debit, if you already have one set up with HMRC | 3 working days |
| Direct Debit, set up for the first time | 5 working days |
Online banking, telephone banking (Faster Payments) or CHAPS
- How fast it clears
- Same or next day
Debit card, or a corporate credit card, paid online
- How fast it clears
- Same or next day
At your bank or building society, with an HMRC paying-in slip
- How fast it clears
- Same or next day
Bacs transfer
- How fast it clears
- 3 working days
Direct Debit, if you already have one set up with HMRC
- How fast it clears
- 3 working days
Direct Debit, set up for the first time
- How fast it clears
- 5 working days
You can no longer pay at the Post Office, and personal credit cards are not accepted. Whichever method you use, send the payment a few days before the deadline rather than on the day.
Your balancing payment is due by 31 January. If this is your first return and you owe more than £1,000, HMRC will usually ask for a first payment on account towards next year's bill at the same time, so the amount due can be one and a half times your tax for the year. That is the second-year surprise described in the calendar above, and money set aside as you earn is what covers it.
What's changing
Making Tax Digital, and when it reaches you
HMRC is phasing out the annual paper-style Self Assessment return for higher earners in favour of digital record-keeping and quarterly updates. It reaches carers in stages, based on income rather than profession.
| Applies from | |
|---|---|
| Over £50,000 a year | 6 April 2026 (already in force) |
| Over £30,000 a year | 6 April 2027 |
| Over £20,000 a year | 6 April 2028 |
Over £50,000 a year
- Applies from
- 6 April 2026 (already in force)
Over £30,000 a year
- Applies from
- 6 April 2027
Over £20,000 a year
- Applies from
- 6 April 2028
The income figure is your total self-employed and property income the year before, before expenses. Thresholds and dates from gov.uk, checked 6 September 2026. Most carers working hourly or live-in visits sit well under these figures, but it is worth checking your own total once a year.
If it applies to you, instead of one Self Assessment return a year you keep digital records through compatible software and send HMRC a short update every quarter, then a final declaration at the end of the year. Registration for Self Assessment and a UTR still come first; Making Tax Digital sits on top of that once your income crosses the threshold, it does not replace it. Full details on gov.uk.
Questions
Questions carers ask about tax
If your total self-employed income for the tax year is more than £1000, yes. Below that figure you do not need to register or pay tax on it, though you can still choose to if you want a formal record. Once you go over £1000 in a year, register by 5 October the following year. Who must send a tax return, on gov.uk.
HMRC can charge a "failure to notify" penalty based on the tax you owe if you register late and have not paid in full by the following 31 January. Registering as soon as you take your first booking avoids the risk entirely, and there is no penalty for registering early.
It depends on your total profit for the year from all sources. On self-employed profit, you pay no Income Tax on the first £12,570, then 20% up to £50,270 and 40% above that, plus Class 4 National Insurance of 6% on profit between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above it. HMRC works the exact figure out from your Self Assessment return.
The main date is 31 January after the end of the tax year, which covers any balancing payment plus a first payment on account if HMRC has asked for one. A second payment on account, where it applies, is due by 31 July. In your first year of trading you will not have payments on account yet, since they are based on the year before.
Yes. Travel between one client and the next during your working day is an allowable expense, claimed at the flat rate of 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles in a tax year and 25p a mile after that, if you use the simplified expenses method. The drive from home to your first client is less clear-cut. gov.uk rules out travel between home and a fixed place of work, and HMRC's manual records a court allowing travel from a home base to a changing series of sites while refusing it for a fixed, predictable round, so it depends on how you work. Allowable expenses for self-employed carers sets out both cases.
Usually around 15 days by post, and longer at busy times or if you live overseas. Check your personal tax account or the HMRC app first, since your UTR often shows there before the letter arrives.
Yes, in two ways. A Budget Payment Plan lets you pay towards next year's bill through the year, so January is less of a shock. If you already owe tax and cannot pay it in full, a Time to Pay arrangement spreads that bill, and you can usually set one up online if you owe £30,000 or less and have filed the return.
It is a switch from one annual Self Assessment return to digital records and quarterly updates sent through compatible software. It has applied since 6 April 2026 to sole traders with more than £50,000 a year in self-employed and property income, reaching £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and £20,000 from 6 April 2028. Most carers working hourly visits or a single live-in placement are under these figures, but it is worth checking your own total each year. Find out if and when it applies to you, on gov.uk.
HMRC's Self Assessment helpline is 0300 200 3310, open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, closed on bank holidays. For free, independent guidance on the wider picture, gov.uk's Self Assessment pages are the most reliable starting point, and an accountant is worth the cost once your income or expenses get more complicated than a single client and a straightforward diary.