New Year’s resolution: submit your tax return

It’s the New Year and time to make a difference: by not leaving your self-assessment tax return to the last minute.

Last year, almost 1.3 million tax returns were submitted to HMRC on either 30 or 31 January 2018, while 4,852,744 returns were completed online throughout the whole of January 2018.

January may only be a few days old but it should come as no surprise that it’s one of the busiest months of the year for us, with most of our time spent preparing and sending tax returns.

A similar rush is under way now and if you’ve maintained accurate records from 2017/18, we recommend you share them with us sooner rather than later.

When are the tax return deadlines?

You have until midnight on 31 January 2019 to submit your self-assessment tax return online for 2017/18.

The same midnight deadline on 31 January 2019 is in place for paying the tax you owe to HMRC, and this also applies to clients who made paper submissions before 31 October 2018.

How can I share my records with you?

If you use digital accounting software, such as Xero, QuickBooks or Sage, we will be able to see the information you’ve uploaded to your account.

Failing that, you can authorise us to import your data and handle your self-assessment tax return on our digital accounting software.

For clients who opt to bring us a bag of receipts to process and submit on your behalf, please give us plenty of time given how busy we are this month.

Are fines in place for missing the deadline?

You will face a mandatory fine of £100 if you fail to submit a tax return for 2017/18 before midnight on 31 January 2019. 745,588 taxpayers missed last year’s deadline for 2016/17.

Interest is charged if you fail to settle your tax bill with the Revenue, which can fine you £10 a day – up to a maximum of £900 – if you’ve taken more than three months to pay up.

Further penalties of whichever is greater than 5% of the tax owed or £300 will be added if you fail to pay HMRC after 30 days, 6 months and 12 months.

What do you need to file my tax return?

As mentioned in our self-assessment for first-timers blog from October 2018 , you will need to make the following records available:

• personal income records
• sales income
• expenses incurred by your businesses
• VAT records (if your business is VAT-registered)
• PAYE records (if you employ anyone).

Contact us

For more information on our personal tax planning service, or if you need help with your tax return, email us on info@stapletonsaccountants.co.uk or call 01363 773191.