01
Source
Primary pages on GOV.UK where they exist. If a blog is the only source, we do not treat the number as settled.
About the desk
Written in Livingston, for the UK crossing
Ontarictensor is an independent blog about the moment a side hustle has to behave like a business. We edit it from 65 Aller Pl, Livingston EH54 6RG. We are not an accountancy practice, a law firm, a formation agent, or an FCA-authorised adviser.
What this is
A desk, not a motivational feed
The notes started because the useful part of “quit your job” advice is usually missing. People in West Lothian, and well beyond it, already have the skill: ceramics on a Saturday, repairs after the school run, design retainers that began as a favour. What they lack is a sequence. Which money is the business’s. When a friend becomes a client. When HMRC expects a registration. When a limited company is a tool and when it is an expensive costume.
We read GOV.UK, Companies House guidance, and the ICO’s small-business pages, then we write the sequence in plain English. Where a number can move, we date it. Where a story would identify a reader, we composite it and say so. Where the right next step is a paid professional, we stop and point there.
Scotland sets its own income tax bands. Livingston readers should not copy an England-only take-home sketch and call it a plan. National Insurance and VAT are UK-wide. Corporation Tax sits with the company, not with you as a person. Those distinctions run through every setup note on this site.
How a page is made
Three passes before we publish
02
Translate
We rewrite the rule as a decision a person can make on a Tuesday night, and we keep the caveat next to the sentence.
03
Date
Tax pages carry the date we last checked them. If you are reading this in a later tax year, start from GOV.UK and use us as the map, not the statute.
Who it is for
People who already sell something on the side in the UK and can feel the hobby rules bending: a stall that now takes card payments, a repair queue that fills the evenings, a freelance skill that has repeat clients and no contract. Employers with a side income. Parents fitting the work around school hours. Makers who are about to rent a unit and are not sure which name goes on the lease.
It is not a startup bulletin and it is not a personal-finance product review. If your question is “which app should I use to feel productive”, this desk will disappoint you on purpose.
Write to the desk