Tax Self-Assessment – What You Need To know

The end of January is looming and that means that tax returns for the year up to 5^th April 2015 are due in at HMRC, and it’s a deadline that you miss at your peril. If you were self-employed at any point during the April 2014 – 2015 tax year, a Company Director, made capital gains, a rental income or any other untaxed income, it is essential that you file your tax return with an accurate record of your profit and loss during the given period, to establish the tax due. Completing your tax return can be very confusing, for the 2014/15 tax year you will need to file your return online – this is because you will have missed the 31^st October deadline for paper filing – and there are a few things you need to think about.

Don’t miss the deadline

If you miss the 31^st January deadline, you will start to accrue fines and interest payments on what you owe, so it is in your interests to get it done as soon as possible.  Similarly, if you put off payments on Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax contributions, you will incur costs against these so they should be done as soon as possible. There is little room for error on the tax return – it is vital that you enter the correct information or you may be liable for a fine, whether this is an intentional mistake, or you have been careless in entering the information. You will never be fined for a genuine mistake, however!

Completing your tax return online

If you plan to complete the tax return online yourself, the main steps to completion are as follows:

• Create an account with HMRC and log on.
• Review and fill in the information you need for each different income if you have more than one. You will need receipts, statements of income, interest earnt and any other expenses/sales.
• Fill in the sections on the form relevant to you – use the HMRC “How to fill in your Tax Return” booklet to help you.
• File your return online.
• Pay the tax due, as calculated on your Tax Return.

When finalising your claim, you can include any ‘payments on account’ for the next tax year if you want to so that you are always ahead of your tax demands. You can pay what you owe from the previous year alongside your first payment on account, the second payment must be made by 31st July. There are also budget payment plans available. Payment can be made by BACS, Direct Debit, at the Bank or Building Society or online and telephone banking.

Help is at hand

All sound a bit too complicated? At Newton Magnus we offer a wide range of packages for self-employed individuals and businesses to include book keeping and management of your tax assessment. We can take away the stress of managing your taxes, dealing with queries from the HMRC, and guiding you through the self-assessment. Talk to us about how we can help today!