I never understand why some people wait until almost the January 31st deadline to submit their self-assessment tax return. Or forget to do it altogether and cop a £100 penalty. I uploaded mine yesterday. And it was easier than I had expected. It’s actually a long time since I last filed my own tax return. I had been using a payroll company to do this. But they stopped providing this service. So I had a choice of either finding another accountant or dealing with it myself. I did the latter.
I always used to fill out my own tax returns using the paper forms which HMRC posted out to me. One day my completed form got lost in the system and I began to worry as I got closer to the submission deadline. Online submission was at that time very new and difficult to navigate. Which was why I gave £150 to the payroll company to file it on my behalf.
Even if you are not required to submit a self-assessment tax return, there may be reasons why it is advantageous to do so, particularly if there are things which you can legitimately deduct from your tax liability, like professional subscriptions. So here are a several tips for anyone who has to fill out a self-assessment tax questionnaire:
- Pull together the information and get it in as soon as possible, so that you don’t have to worry about it later. Best time to get it in is as soon as you get your P60 (perhaps more than one if you have a portfolio of jobs). It’s better to know now if something is missing, than later.
2. Keep accurate records so that you have all the information to hand when you fill out the online form, particularly about those legitimate deductibles, like professional subscriptions and training courses. I included in my own tax return a deduction of £177 for sundries. But that deduction could have been much bigger if I had kept better records of business purchases. Like the letter-scale which I purchased several months back from Amazon so that I didn’t have to traipse along to the post office and wait in line every time needed to post a larger item. I’ll make sure that I don’t forget when I fill out next year’s return.
3. Don’t forget those charitable donations which you made through the tax year. Legitimate charities can claim back basic rate tax relief directly on any donations you make. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t set it against higher rate tax by including it as a deductible on your tax return. The effect of a gift aid charitable donation is boost your basic rate threshold to reduce the amount of higher rate tax which you would otherwise pay
BRUCE AND HOLLY 