In the tax year 2017/18 the government will be introducing a new UK tax allowance for minor trading and property activity.

The allowance for each category is £1,000 and this means that individuals (who the government classes as self-starters) who have earnings under these two categories can earn up to the allowance and not pay tax on those earnings.

The allowances are also available to those people who earn more than £1,000 in each category, in which case those people will be able to earn the first £1,000 tax free.

The allowance is aimed at the entrepreneurial people in today’s society who aim to make some extra money on the side by doing things like renting out their driveway or selling goods on eBay.

But it is not just limited to these activities and could include for example people making and selling cakes in their spare time or those who make money buying and selling items at car boot sales. It could also cover people who rent out their garage or perhaps some land and those people who do some paid gardening or DIY work at weekends.

Anyone whose earnings are less than £1,000 a year in these categories will not need to fill in a tax return to declare any of this income but people earning over £1,000 will need to declare those earnings and deduct the £1,000 allowance from the income which would be taxable.

Another prime example would be people who use AirBnB to rent out rooms in their house (but not those who use the rent a room allowance to claim tax relief).

Both reliefs are available so if you have earnings in both categories you can claim up to £2,000 in these additional allowances.