Hi all, I'm a solo developer and I've just launched Hamster, a free app for UK side hustlers who want to know what they might owe HMRC without wading through a spreadsheet.

I started building Hamster because tax for a side hustle feels like a trap you only notice in January. By then you can't remember what you earned in March, and you're guessing what to put aside.

THE PROBLEM

If you drive for a delivery app, sell on Etsy or eBay, make content or freelance on the side, it's easy to ignore tax until the deadline. Then you're trying to piece together a year of income, work out whether the £1,000 trading allowance or your actual costs is better, and guess how much to set aside.

WHAT HAMSTER DOES

You log what you earn and what you spend, and it shows a live estimate of the tax and National Insurance you'd owe for the tax year. The part people usually get wrong is the trading allowance: you can use it or claim your costs, not both. Hamster works out which is better for you and tells you why. For example, if you've earned £1,500 and spent £15, your costs are tiny compared with the £1,000 allowance, so it uses the allowance.

FREE

- Log earnings and costs

- Add mileage to driving and delivery jobs

- A live tax and NI estimate

- A weekly nudge to set money aside

PREMIUM (optional)

- Profit per hour, per mile and per hustle, so you can see which side hustles are really worth your time

- A PDF for any month, quarter or full tax year, laid out to match the Self Assessment boxes

- Receipt photos, CSV import, year-on-year comparison, a what-if planner, and a heads-up as you near key tax thresholds

There's no account and no sign-up, and everything stays on your phone.

It gives estimates, not tax advice, and it isn't affiliated with HMRC.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hamsterapp.tax&referrer=utm\_source%3Dreddit%26utm\_medium%3Dsocial%26utm\_campaign%3Dlaunch

iPhone (UK App Store): (Launches 4th November) https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/hamster-side-hustle-tax/id6829741312?ct=reddit

Website: https://www.hamsterapp.co.uk

This is my first app and I'd really like honest feedback: what's confusing, what's missing, what you'd expect it to do that it doesn't. I'll answer everything.

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Struggling to work out the tax for your side hustle?