Advice on small app/Game side business

witnessmenow

Hi Guys,

Just a small bit of background. I'm a full time software developer, but I have some side projects (websites, apps and games) currently none that I monitise.

Unless something very drastic happens these will remain side projects.

I am considering possibly monitisng some of them. I would imagine I would make very little money on them. I'm not exactly sure how much, lets say maybe 1k-5k per anum.

I have some costs associated with the projects: web hosting, domain names and a private github account, but this does not add up to much (roughly €200 a year)

I am the creator of all projects, mostly I am the only person who contributed to them, but some of the projects I have some people that have contributed, who will need to share in profits for those projects.

My income from my full time job pushes me over the highest rate of tax (just :pac: )

Any advice on what sort of a road I should go down? Any advice would be much appreciated.

srsly78

Running a business (whether as a sole trader or as a director) is a lot of hassle, so it's only worth it if you can get a decent level of sales (over 10k at the very least). Below that and it really isn't worth the trouble, however note that if you have income of even a single euro from non-paye sources then this must be declared.

Once things become a "business" suddenly all kinds of expenses appear from nowhere - like accountant and (even higher) bank fees etc.

witnessmenow

Thanks for the reply.

I thought that might be the case OK. One thing the concerns me about that is the following scenario:

Say I create a game with an artist, and put it on the Google play store using my account. The game makes €1k and I owe the artist half. When it comes time to declaring my additional income, am I paying tax on 1k or 500?

srsly78

I like how you skipped straight past international vat, which is pretty complicated when you sell to the whole world Yes small traders usually do not have to charge vat, but this counts as exporting!

You really need an accountant for this stuff.

witnessmenow

I am open for correction, but I believe Google play store charges vat at point of sale, so any income I would receive would be after vat, or do i additionally have to do a separate vat returns?

Peterdalkey

You only have to register for and charge VAT on annual sales above euro 37500. Below that you do not need to concern yourself with it.
You only pay tax on the net profit, the money paid to the artist and any other costs are deducted from the sales to calculate. You can return this income on your normal tax return form, there are specific boxes for this, just make sure you make a return EVERY year. Ring Revenue if you have any questions, they are actually very helpful to compliant taxpayers!