Private Tutor Tax UK 2026/27: Home Visits, Online Lessons and Your Real Bill
Private tutoring — maths, English, music, languages, exam prep — is one of the most common self-employed side hustles for teachers and graduates. Full worked example on £20,000 tutoring income, deductible expenses, and when VAT applies.
Private tutoring: the UK's most common professional side hustle
Private tutoring sits at the intersection of two huge trends: parents spending more on supplementary education (exam prep, 11+, GCSE and A-level tuition, music lessons, language learning), and professionals — especially teachers, graduates and subject specialists — using tutoring as flexible extra income around a main job. Because it's so often a side hustle alongside PAYE employment, the tax treatment has a specific wrinkle worth understanding clearly.
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Open Self-Employed Tax calculatorWorked example: teacher tutoring alongside a full-time job
Scenario: a secondary school teacher earning £38,000 PAYE salary, tutoring 8 hours/week at £35/hour, generating £14,560/year gross tutoring income (based on term-time tutoring, roughly 42 weeks).
Tutoring income: £14,560
Deductible expenses:
- Mileage for home visits (1,500 miles at 45p): £675
- Teaching resources, past papers, workbooks: £300
- Marketing/tutoring platform commission: £400
- Phone/broadband (business proportion): £150
- Total expenses: £1,525
Taxable tutoring profit: £14,560 − £1,525 = £13,035
Because the teacher's £38,000 salary already exceeds the £12,570 Personal Allowance, all of the tutoring profit falls into the 20% basic-rate band (assuming combined income stays below £50,270):
Income tax on tutoring profit: £13,035 × 20% = £2,607
Class 4 NI on tutoring profit: £13,035 × 6% = £782
Total tax and NI on tutoring income: £3,389
Take-home from tutoring: £14,560 − £1,525 − £3,389 = £9,646
This is an important number for anyone weighing up whether tutoring is "worth it" alongside a demanding day job — of the headline £14,560, roughly a third goes to expenses and tax, leaving around £9,650 in the tutor's pocket.
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Open Take-Home Pay calculatorIf tutoring pushes total income into the higher-rate band
If the same teacher's total income (salary + tutoring profit) exceeds £50,270, the portion of tutoring profit above that threshold is taxed at 40% instead of 20%, plus Class 4 NI drops from 6% to 2% on profit above £50,270 (NI rates fall as income tax rates rise, but the combined marginal rate — 42% — is still higher than the 26% combined rate below the threshold). This is worth knowing if you're deciding whether to take on additional tutoring hours near the higher-rate boundary — the extra hours are still profitable, just taxed at a higher marginal rate.
Online vs home-visit tutoring: different cost structures
Home-visit tutors typically have higher deductible costs (mileage, fuel, potentially higher insurance for business use of a car) but can often charge a premium for the convenience of travelling to the pupil.
Online tutors (via Zoom, Teams, or platforms like MyTutor, Tutorful and Preply) have minimal direct costs — a good internet connection and perhaps a proportion of broadband/equipment — but platforms typically take a commission (often 15-30% of the lesson fee), which is itself a deductible business expense but does reduce headline earnings compared with self-sourced, in-person pupils.
Deductible expenses checklist for private tutors
- Mileage (45p/mile, first 10,000 miles) for home-visit tutoring
- Teaching resources: workbooks, past papers, subscriptions to exam board materials
- DBS check (often required by parents or agencies)
- Professional development: subject-specific CPD, tutoring qualifications
- Platform/agency commission fees
- Marketing: website, business cards, local advertising
- Phone and broadband (business proportion for online lessons)
- A proportion of home costs if you tutor from a dedicated home study (using HMRC's simplified flat-rate method)
Registering and filing
Register for Self Assessment once gross tutoring income exceeds £1,000, keep simple records of lessons delivered and income received per pupil, and file online by 31 January following the tax year end, alongside declaring your PAYE income if applicable (HMRC will already have this from your employer's records, but it still needs to appear on your return for the full picture).
self-employed-tax-ukFrequently asked questions
Do private tutors need to register as self-employed?
Yes, once gross tutoring income exceeds £1,000 in a tax year. This applies whether you tutor in person, travel to pupils' homes, or teach entirely online via video call. Register for Self Assessment with HMRC and file a return by 31 January following the tax year.
Can teachers do private tutoring alongside their PAYE job?
Yes, and it's extremely common. The PAYE salary is taxed as normal through your employer, and the tutoring income is reported separately via Self Assessment. Because your Personal Allowance is typically already used up by your teaching salary, tutoring profit is usually taxed at your marginal rate — 20% if you're a basic-rate taxpayer, 40% if higher-rate.
How much tax will I pay on £20,000 of private tutoring income if I also have a full-time job?
If your day job already uses your full Personal Allowance and pushes you into the basic-rate band, tutoring profit is generally taxed at 20% income tax plus 6% Class 4 NI = 26% combined, once expenses are deducted. On roughly £18,500 taxable profit (after modest expenses on £20,000 income), that's approximately £4,810 in tax and NI.
What expenses can a private tutor claim?
Deductible expenses include: mileage for home-visit tutoring (45p/mile for the first 10,000 miles), a proportion of home costs if you tutor from a home study, teaching resources and materials, DBS checks, professional development courses, tutoring platform/agency commission fees, marketing, and a proportion of your phone/broadband if used for online lessons.
Should I use the £1,000 trading allowance or claim actual expenses?
Use whichever gives the lower tax bill. If your actual costs (mileage especially, for home-visit tutors) exceed £1,000, claim actual expenses. If you tutor mostly online with minimal costs, the flat £1,000 trading allowance is simpler and may exceed your genuine outgoings.
Do online tutoring platforms (MyTutor, Tutorful, Preply) report my earnings to HMRC?
Increasingly yes. Digital platforms are required under HMRC's platform reporting rules to share seller income data with HMRC annually, similar to rules affecting eBay, Vinted, Airbnb and Uber. This makes it more important than ever to declare tutoring income properly rather than assume it goes unnoticed.
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