Will filling in a HMRC 'sole trader' tax return alert my employer that I'm freelancing?

Hello all,

I work full time at a 9-5 job and my tax is of course automatically deducted from my pay via PAYE.

In the past year I've also started doing some freelance work on the side which has bought in more than £1,000 so I'll need to fill out a sole trader tax return for HMRC.

My question is - will filling in the latter alert my main employer that I am freelancing? Will HMRC get in touch with them or anything like that?

I suspect my main employer will take a dim view of me freelancing and it would risk me being put in the 'not fully committed' camp, which is in fact true, as my long-term goal is to become freelance full-time. However atm the freelance is nowhere near enough to live off so I need to keep my current job. Basically, I'd much rather they didn't know.

If anyone has any advice on this it would be much appreciated.

best,
ARenter.

 

Filing a self-assessment tax return with HMRC is a formal process, but the Revenue will not communicate with your employer to inform them you are earning other income.

 

Prophet/ Catherine! This issue was covered on FreelanceUK a bit back -- I've put it below:
https://www.freelanceuk.com/running...return-alert-my-employer-im-freelancing.shtml


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