How to Register as Self-Employed When You Run a Kids Club in 2026

Most people running small activity clubs don't register straight away. We get it: filing your taxes is not why you set up your business. To help you get started, this article explains exactly what you need to do, when you need to do it, and what happens if you don't.

Do you actually need to register?

The short answer: if you earned more than £1,000 from your club in a tax year, yes.

HMRC gives everyone a £1,000 trading allowance. This means if your total income from self-employment is under £1,000 in a tax year, you don't need to register or pay tax on it. If your total self-employment income exceeds £1,000 in a tax year, you will usually need to register for Self Assessment and report the income to HMRC.

For most people running a kids club, even a small one, £1,000 comes quickly. Six families paying £30 a month gets you there in under six weeks.

It's also worth knowing that the £1,000 threshold applies to your gross income — that's the total amount you take in before any expenses, not your profit. So if you took in £3,000 and spent £2,500 running the club, you still need to register.

⭐ Eequ Pro Tip: Be careful what you count as payment. Cash payments from parents, bank transfers, PayPal, childcare vouchers, Tax-Free Childcare top-ups, council funding for HAF sessions — all count as forms of income. The general rule: if someone paid you money in exchange for a service, it counts.

When do you need to register by?

You must register with HMRC by the 5th of October following the end of the tax year in which you started trading.

If you started between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026: you must register by 5 October 2026
If you started after 6 April 2026: your deadline is 5 October 2027

HMRC may charge penalties or interest if you register late, though in practice they are often lenient with first-time filers. That said, it's not a risk worth taking.

Important: As of 6 April 2026, the rules changed significantly. If your total turnover (not profit) is expected to exceed £50,000, you may also need to sign up for Making Tax Digital (MTD). This requires you to keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC rather than just one annual return.

If you're not sure when you started trading, use the date of your first payment as your start date.

Key dates to know for 2026

5 October 2026 — deadline to register for Self Assessment if you started trading in the 2025/26 tax year
31 January 2027 — deadline to file your 2025/26 online tax return and pay your Balancing Payment plus your first Payment on Account for next year
31 July 2027 — deadline for your second Payment on Account

How to register: step by step

The process is straightforward and takes around 20 minutes once you have your details ready.

Create a Government Gateway account — go to gov.uk and search "register as self-employed." You'll be directed to create a Government Gateway account if you don't already have one. You'll need your National Insurance number and a form of ID
Register for Self Assessment — once you're logged in, register for Self Assessment as a sole trader. You'll be asked for your name, address, National Insurance number, date of birth, phone number, and the date you started self-employment
Wait for your UTR — HMRC will send your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number by post within 10 working days. Keep this, as you'll need it every time you file a tax return
Set up your business records — from the moment you register, you need to keep records of all your income and expenses. This doesn't need to be complicated. A simple spreadsheet works fine to start, along with keeping all your receipts. But it needs to be accurate, and you need to keep it updated

National Insurance for self-employed people

As a sole trader, you may need to pay National Insurance through your Self Assessment tax return, depending on how much profit you make. For most people, this is calculated automatically by HMRC when you submit your return.

Profit = total income (gross income) − allowable business expenses

Your profit is the figure HMRC uses to work out how much Income Tax and National Insurance you need to pay.

As a sole trader, your National Insurance is calculated as follows for the 2025/26 tax year:

Class 4 NI: 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% on profits above £50,270
Class 2 NI: this is no longer a mandatory weekly payment for most people. If your profits are above £6,845, you automatically receive National Insurance credits towards your State Pension and certain benefits

⭐ Eequ Pro Tip: If your club earns less than £6,845 and you don't have another income stream, you may not receive those credits automatically. You could consider paying Voluntary Class 2 NI contributions (£3.50/week for 2025/26) to help protect your State Pension entitlement.

Payment on Account

If your tax bill is over £1,000, HMRC will ask you to make payments on account. These are advance payments towards next year's tax bill, due in two instalments: 31 January and 31 July. This catches a lot of first-time filers off guard, because it means your first January payment can be much higher than expected — it often includes both your current tax bill and an advance payment towards next year's bill.

⭐ Eequ Pro Tip: A simple rule for setting money aside: for first-time filers, try to put 30–35% of every payment you receive into a separate savings account. Don't touch it. That covers your Income Tax, National Insurance, and Payment on Account without any nasty surprises.

What you can claim as expenses

This is where registering starts to feel worthwhile. As a self-employed activity provider, you can deduct legitimate business expenses from your income before calculating your tax. That reduces your taxable profit and therefore your tax bill.

What you can typically claim:

Venue hire or room rental for your sessions
Equipment and materials: sports kit, art supplies, outdoor learning resources
Insurance: public liability, employers liability if you have staff
DBS check fees
Marketing costs: flyers, website, paid social ads
Booking platform fees
Travel to and from sessions (mileage at HMRC's approved rate, currently 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles)
A proportion of your phone bill if you use it for the business
Accountancy fees

What you cannot claim:

Your own wages (you are not an employee of yourself as a sole trader)
Personal expenses that aren't genuinely for the business
Fines or penalties

Keep receipts for everything. HMRC can ask to see them for up to five years after the relevant tax return.

Sole trader or limited company: which should you be?

For most people running a small kids club, sole trader is the right choice to start with. It's simpler to set up, simpler to run, and simpler to wind down if you decide to stop.

A limited company becomes worth considering when:

Your profits are consistently above £50,000 per year
You want to separate your personal finances from your business finances for liability reasons
You're taking on employees and want more formal business structure

If you're not sure, stay as a sole trader for now. You can always convert later.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Not registering at all HMRC is increasingly good at identifying people who are trading without registering, particularly those taking payments through digital platforms. They can charge penalties and interest for failing to register or filing late.

Not keeping records as you go Trying to reconstruct a year's worth of income and expenses in January is miserable and usually inaccurate. Spend 30 minutes at the end of every month updating your records. That's it.

Mixing personal and business finances Open a separate bank account for your club income and expenses. It doesn't need to be a business account — a personal account you use only for the club is fine. This makes your records dramatically easier to manage and reduces the risk of errors.

Not saving for your tax bill Follow the 30–35% rule above. Do it from day one.

Missing the 31 January deadline HMRC charges an automatic £100 penalty for late filing, even if you don't owe any tax. It increases the longer you leave it. Put a recurring reminder in your calendar.

A note on getting help

If your income is straightforward — one club, no employees, no complicated expenses — you can file your Self Assessment yourself through HMRC's online system. It's not as complicated as it looks.

If you have employees, multiple income streams, or your finances are more complex, an accountant can be worth the investment. Many accountants who work with small businesses charge £200–400 to prepare and file a straightforward Self Assessment. That's often less than the time you'd spend doing it yourself, and it removes the anxiety of wondering if you've got it right.

Key links

As your club grows, keeping your finances and bookings in order gets harder. Knowing exactly what's coming in and when matters more once you're filing a tax return every year. Eequ helps activity providers manage bookings and payments in one place, so your records are always accurate and up to date. Find out more at eequ.org/booking-system

This article is for general guidance only and does not constitute financial or tax advice. Tax rules can change. If you're unsure about your specific situation, speak to a qualified accountant.