Starting as a side hustle, payments, tax and bank account?

[Everest Window Cleaning]

I'm an experienced window cleaner who's about to start canvassing for my own round in Newcastle upon Tyne and have a few questions. My plan is to do this alongside my full time job. I earn about £28k in my job and obviously pay income tax and NIC. So when I start earning from cleaning windows do I tell HMRC straight away? What will my tax rate be as a sole trader who's already hitting his tax free allowance? My customers will be paying online so what's the best bank account to set up? Can I just set up a standard current account with no fees and get my clients to pay directly into that? I'm thinking I'll put the account number and sort code on my "Windows cleaned today" slip and ask the customers to use their address as the reference? Also, I wanted to set up a website and have a payment portal on that. How easy is it to set that up?

 

[ched999uk]

As soon as you start work you need to register with hmrc. You will pay what ever tax and national insurance rates are applicable as you will use your allowance for your main job. So 20% of profit up to income of £50K, then 40% upto £125K.
Bank accounts you really need to have a business account as some banks crack down on multiple payments going into a personal account. Look at Starling as I think they are free.
Website is a good idea but don't spend loads on it as unless you are willing to learn or pay for SEO (search engine optimisation) you aren't going to get on the front page.
As for a payment portal, I wouldn't bother, too complex and not worth the effort.
You could pay for a round management app like Squeegee who offer 30 day trial and were recently offering half price for 6 months - this allows you to take online credit card payments and offer GoCardless - direct debit.

The hardest bit will be gaining customers.

 

[Part Timer]

Apart from your PAYE you won't pay any tax until the 1st January after the first April you're trading. So if you start now you will pay tax on your profits next January, if you start in the new tax year, 25/26, you won't be liable to pay tax on your profits until January 2027. You will however also have to pay an additional 50% of your tax bill then and again in July.
Sounds complicated but it isn't once you know your way round it, speak to either HMRC, very good and free once you manage to get through, or an Accountant