Today’s workforce is all about the gig economy which coupled with the passion economy has led to a new era of a workplace that opened avenues for many Under the Table Jobs. 

Under-the-table jobs are also known as “off the book” jobs where your employer doesn’t keep records of your work extensively or collect taxes from you. Such jobs pay you cash upfront and you might have a myriad of reasons to go for this option. It could be that you need some extra on top of your regular income and have the time to do that or that you need a fix for some days before you get on with a full-time job.

Under the table jobs are usually not reported to the government for the purpose of tax and you can bring home every penny that you earn with your hard work. This might sound a little illegitimate but you can always choose to report them on your tax sheet. So unless you are making more than 30,000 USD in a year, the taxes on these incomes will not amount to much.

These jobs do not require any formal college education so anyone can benefit from such jobs. Even though there are many under the table jobs, not all of them might pay you enough to sustain your livelihood on it. We have picked up a few of those jobs which pay well and are not tough to perform.

Some of the best ways to find under the table jobs

While looking for off-the-book jobs, here are some places to start with:

• Craigslist – One of the best options to find odd jobs is Craigslist. You could go to its gig section and would be surprised to find the various kinds of cash-paying jobs that are posted there. Most of these jobs come from genuine people who are seriously looking for your services. So look for the ones which fit your aptitude.
• Facebook – Another great place to look for gig work is social networking sites like FB. There are many FB groups you can search for in the job section. Try to find a job in your area and you are sure to get something that suits you. Whether you belong to a small town or a big city, FB always has a flow of such off-the-book jobs listed in many of its groups. Freelance services are in demand in every town and FB with its huge community is the right place to look for these kinds of jobs. An easy way to do this is to search for “city + hiring now” in the search bar provided on FB and you are bound to find a number of FB groups relevant to your area of expertise or interest.
• Job websites – There are job sites like Rover.com and Nextdoor.com which list jobs in your nearby regions. Nextdoor.com connects you people who are verified and belong to areas close to your living hence it is convenient for you to find something here. Rover.com is a website for dog lovers as you can find many jobs related to dog services on this website. Some of the best-paying jobs are found here. Here is a list of job websites that rank at the top:
  • Glassdoor
  • Indeed
  • Linkedin
  • Monster
  • Google for jobs
  • SimplyHired

List of some of the best under the table jobs which pay well and are proven to make you succeed

Here are some of the easiest and quickest ways to get some cash. The list has a variety of jobs so we are sure you will find something of your interest here:

1. Have fun watching videos and get paid

 You read it right, you will get paid in cash for watching videos online. There are websites like Swagbucks and SurveyJunkies which will pay you in cash via Paypal for watching videos that include movie previews, news, celebrity videos, and many other kinds of videos. You would need to sign up on these sites to earn the money. These sites will let you know how many minutes to watch the videos and sometimes you might be required to like the videos. Though it is not a means to earn huge amounts of money but will give you those extra under-the-table bucks for practically nothing.

2. Turking or HITs (human intelligence tasks)

MTurk (Amazon Mechanical Turk) has a marketplace that is in need of human intelligence. Even though computers have replaced many aspects of work, there are still many places that need human brains to carry out the task. There are micro-tasks across platforms available in this marketplace for you to choose from. Any business or developer can use this to find quality on-demand workers. Few of the numerous tasks which are available in this marketplace are identifying objects in a photo or video, rating search results based on keywords, translating documents into another language, selecting the correct spelling for search terms, researching data details, transcribing audio recordings, and a plethora of other tasks

3. Child or Elderly care

Taking the care of a child or elderly in their homes is an option that works very well for a cash-paying job. These are paid hourly and also based on the number of people you would be taking care of. The hourly rates are set beforehand hence it is a reliable source of income. You could post your availability on any site like Craigslist along with your rates and the area where you would like to work. Alternatively, you can search for people who have posted in your area and contact them. This could work really well if you establish a trustworthy relationship with your employer who can then refer you to their friends or family who are in need of such services.

4. Virtual assistant role

Do you feel that you have skills like client relations, administration, consulting, marketing, or any other skill that could make you a good assistant? Then you can utilize those skills to work from the comfort of your home as virtual assistants or VAs as they are commonly called. Many top virtual assistants are earning from 50 to 100 USD an hour. Jobs of a VA can include making travel arrangements, checking emails, assisting with marketing activities, handling internet research, and the likes. If this interests you then you can Google more about how to learn and become a virtual assistant.

5. Interpreter

Knowing multiple languages can come in handy in earning extra cash easily. It is a well-paying job and many companies are in need of translators or interpreters. These freelance gigs can be found online easily and if you have a certification in the 2nd language to boot for, then you can make it more official and have a better chance of getting paid. 

6. Freelance writing or editing

If you have a penchant for writing and are good at doing research then there are many opportunities available on Craigslist and other job sites like Upwork which require you to write, proofread, and edit articles. There are many bloggers who sometimes want a fresh style of writing and hire others to write for their blogs, college students who are looking for someone to help them edit their research work, and news agencies who want their news items to be written in a better language, and the list goes on. You would not believe that there is also a market for writing love letters as some people feel they cannot write beautiful love letters. You might need to send samples to some of the companies and people looking for writers so be ready with a sample to send or write for them.

7. Becomes a Dog walker or a Pet Sitter

If you love animals, especially dogs then this job would surely provide you with many benefits. You can earn cash while spending time with your 4-legged friend and also get some exercise by walking with the pet. Rover.com is a website dedicated to finding dog walkers and you can easily find one such job near your area through this site. This job can easily give you 50 USD in a day. It is a relatively easy job that does not require much skill and if you do such gigs 3-4 times a week you have a source of a decent side income, all in cash.

8. Freelancing

This has a wide range of things under its umbrella and most of them require you to work from home, so an easy option if you cannot or do not want to venture out. There are many good and reliable sites like Fiverr where you can list all the jobs that you can do with a rate for each of them. You could start with as low as 5 USD and work your way up. With each selling of your services and getting good reviews from clients, you move higher up in the sellers’ list and start earning better with more options available to you. Some of the services that you could choose from are:

• • • Creating videos for companies and businesses
    • Building web sites
    • Manage social media accounts
    • Writing articles
    • Translating
    • Editing and proofreading

9. Blogging

Blogging is an awesome community on its own. Once you take the first step of creating a blog, the rest of it will just fall in place with some tips and tricks. Once you start actively working on bringing traffic to your blog page, it will become your next passion in life and you would enjoy it to the hilt while making money. There are many articles and sites which help new bloggers to set up their blogs, few easy initial steps in this process are:

• • • Buy and register your domain
    • Install WordPress and start writing posts on your blog
    • Make use of social media and other networking sites to bring traffic to your blog
    • Once a decent amount of traffic starts flowing into your blog, you can put up google ads and affiliate links to earn money.
    • You could also offer your own products and services through your blog.
    • Connect with other bloggers and continue building your network.

10. Craftsmanship

If you are someone with a creative flair and artistic bend then you can earn good money by creating marketable commodities. It could be anything quirky, original with a personal touch to it. These items can be sold in flea markets on Craigslist or through any intermediary and local retailers who are willing to pay cash for your items. This will give you an artistic outlet as well as some cash. There are many people who want to buy custom-made items so you could even restore trash into a treasure and sell them easily. If you are looking for creative ideas then log onto Pinterest to get tonnes of innovative ideas on what and how to create and get your creative juices flowing.

11. Photography

Professional photographers usually charge an exorbitant price for their services. So people are mostly looking for amateurs to cover some events like their child’s graduation, engagement or wedding, pet pictures, etc. So if you have a decent camera and a knack for taking good candid pictures, then this could be a great source of steady income.

Conclusion: Top Under The Table Jobs Near Me

The advancement in technology has opened up great ways for people to earn some extra money on top of their regular income. From stay-at-home moms to professionals, all are looking to get that extra and the online community has been growing with such job offers. Many of the jobs do not require extra expertise or education hence they are easy to take up and you get paid decently. Some jobs are as easy as taking surveys or watching some videos. The country’s circular economy gives rise to many opportunities for earning money.

The term under the table is mostly considered as ‘off the books, but you could always choose to report it and stay away from troubles and it is ok to not file tax for some jobs which did not pay you well.