Once you’re earning £50,000+ from content creation, you’re no longer “just posting”. You’re running a business, even if it doesn’t feel like one.
And the biggest risk at this stage isn’t that you’ll “pay too much tax”.
It’s that your setup doesn’t keep up with your growth… then one day you realise:
- you’ve drifted close to VAT without noticing
- you’ve mixed business and personal spending so your records are a mess
- you’ve paid freelancers with no paper trail
- and your tax bill lands at the worst possible time
This post is a practical, UK-focused guide to what you should have in place once you’re at £50k+, so you can grow without that constant low-level panic in the background.
(Quick note: this is general info, not personalised tax advice.)
1) First, accept the “creator admin” reality
Creators often have the messiest income patterns of any small business. It’s not one monthly salary. It’s a stack of income streams:
- sponsorships and brand deals
- affiliate income
- platform payouts (AdSense, creator funds, subscriptions)
- UGC work
- digital products or services
Some are paid in lump sums. Some are paid from outside the UK. Some are paid net of fees. Some come with invoices. Some don’t.
So your goal isn’t to build a perfect finance machine overnight. It’s to build a setup that answers three questions, all the time:
- What have I earned (by source and country)?
- How much tax should I be setting aside?
- Am I approaching VAT registration?
2) Separate bank account: the most boring advice that changes everything
If you do nothing else after reading this, do this:
Open a separate bank account for your business money.
Even if you’re still a sole trader.
It’s the difference between:
- “I think that payment was a brand deal… maybe?”
and - “That was £X from Brand A, invoice saved, paid on this date.”
It also makes your bookkeeping faster, your tax estimates more reliable, and your stress levels noticeably lower. When everything goes in and out of one place, you stop losing hours to detective work.
3) Sole trader vs limited company: what creators actually need to understand
This is the question everyone asks. And the honest answer is: it depends.
But here’s the simple way to think about it:
Sole trader: you earn personally, and your profits are taxed as your personal income.
Limited company: the company earns the money, and you choose how and when you take it.
Why do creators move to a limited company?
Usually for a mix of control + planning, not just “tax savings”.
A company can help if:
- you don’t need to take every pound out immediately
- you want to reinvest (editor, kit, software, marketing, travel for work)
- you want a more structured way to pay yourself
- you’re starting to build a team around you
But it also comes with extra admin: company accounts, corporation tax, Companies House filings, and usually payroll (even if it’s just you).
A good rule of thumb: if you’re already earning £50k+ and you expect to keep growing, it’s worth at least having the “Ltd vs sole trader” conversation now, before you’re firefighting later.
4) VAT: don’t wait until £90k to start paying attention
Creators get caught out by VAT because income can jump quickly. One good quarter of brand deals and you can move from “not even thinking about VAT” to “hang on… are we close?”
The UK VAT registration threshold is £90,000 of taxable turnover (in a 12-month period).
Here’s the practical advice for creators at £50k+:
Track income monthly by source and where it comes from
For example:
- UK sponsorships / brand deals
- platform payouts (and where the payer is based)
- affiliate networks (UK vs non-UK)
- digital products/services (and customer location, if relevant)
And keep the proof:
- contracts and emails confirming what the work was
- invoices (where you issue them)
- platform payout statements
If HMRC ever asks why you registered when you did, tidy records make that conversation much easier.
5) “Can I expense that?” The creator version (especially travel)
This is where creators can accidentally step into trouble, because work and life blur together.
HMRC’s principle is that expenses must be “wholly and exclusively” for the purposes of the trade. When there’s a dual purpose (part business, part personal), it becomes difficult. HMRC even uses the example of overseas travel combined with a holiday.
So if you go on holiday and film content while you’re there, that doesn’t automatically mean the trip is a business expense.
What you can do is be reasonable and document what’s genuinely business-related:
- what content was created (deliverables)
- what income it supported (brand deal, campaign, paid shoot)
- what portion was clearly personal
Travel is one of those areas where “be sensible” isn’t fluffy advice, it’s the safest approach.
6) Hiring help: contractor vs employee (and why it matters)
At £50k+, many creators hit a growth ceiling because editing becomes the bottleneck. Getting an editor is often the unlock.
But set it up properly.
Two common routes:
Contractor/freelancer
- they invoice you
- they handle their own tax
- you keep invoices and proof of payment
Employee
- you run PAYE payroll
- there are extra obligations (and admin)
Most creators start with contractors because it’s flexible and less admin. If the workload becomes consistent, then you consider a payroll setup.
The key point: don’t pay people casually with no paperwork. Keep it clean.
7) If you have a limited company: dividends are changing from April 2026
Many creators hear “dividends are better” and assume that’s the whole story.
Dividends can still be useful, but rates matter, and they’re changing.
From 6 April 2026, the government has set out that dividend tax rates will rise by 2 percentage points:
- ordinary rate: 8.75% → 10.75%
- upper rate: 33.75% → 35.75%
(additional rate unchanged at 39.35%)
So the “best way to pay yourself” is increasingly about good planning:
- how much you actually need personally
- whether you want to reinvest in the business
- what tax bands you’re heading into
- and keeping the business stable month-to-month
A simple checklist for creators at £50k–£150k
If you’re in that growth zone, aim for this:
✅ Separate business bank account
✅ Monthly tracking of income by source/country
✅ Contracts, invoices, payout statements saved in one place
✅ Set aside money for tax as you go
✅ Keep an eye on VAT well before £90k
✅ Hiring documented properly (contractor vs employee)
✅ Be cautious with travel, document business purpose and keep it reasonable
Creators don’t get into trouble because they don’t care — they get into trouble because income grows fast and the rules aren’t always obvious.
At Capshine, we specialise in supporting UK content creators as they scale, helping you stay organised across multiple income streams, keep your records clean, and make confident decisions around VAT and business structure.
Click here to Contact us today for a discovery call and we’ll talk through where you are now and the smartest next step.
