Dr. Andy Egwim warns UK doctors that side hustles can push them into a 60% effective tax rate if structured wrong. He uses Dr. Jo, an NHS consultant with a health-tech advisory role and coaching practice, as an example of how unstructured side income dramatically increased her tax burden. The key is evaluating the right tax structure before earning extra money.
Additional income could be creating additional tax problems for you. Tax problems. Your side hustles, it could be creating future tax problems for you, especially if you're a doctor, because many doctors don't notice until it's already cost them thousands, if not tens of thousands of pounds. But that's not a reason to stop building extra income or side hustles. It's a reason to think about structure before the income arrives. If you're new here, I'm Dr. Andy Egwim. I'm the founder of Moneywise Doctor, and I've taught over 4,400 doctors tax-efficient investing, and the same pattern keeps showing up. And a lot of these are not just the salaried doctors anymore. Some are founders, some are coaches, some are locums, some are expert witnesses, some are health tech advisors advising startups, but they haven't structured their income properly. And a lot of times they just operate as if it's just their salaried income. A good example is Dr. Jo. So she was a brilliant NHS consultant who advises a health tech company and runs a small coaching practice. Now, the income she was getting was landing on top of her NHS salary. And it was pulling her further into the 60% tax trap. Now, that is totally avoidable. Now, this is not financial advice, and every situation is different. Now, that doesn't mean everyone needs to have a limited company. It just means it's a question worth asking, not ignoring. Before you set up a business, before you start thinking about the extra income, think about the tax structure, how you set it up. Even your locum, can you do it through a limited company? Like your e-commerce business, your side hustles. Now, quick question: if you earn income outside your main role, what's the one tax question you want answered? If you have any questions around that, I'm more than happy to answer that. I've had limited companies in real estate, I had limited companies working as a doctor, and also for my current business. And if you like content like this, just follow for more.
