Filing your self assessment tax returns

29 Dec 2014

Paper tax returns covering income for the year ending 5 April 2014 had to be submitted to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) by 31 October 2014. Online tax returns must be received by HMRC on 31 January 2015.

Assessment of your liability to income tax and capital gains tax can be a confusing time for the self employed, and with automatic penalties for late filing, this is something every entrepreneur needs to get right.

Should you fail to submit your self assessment for a single day you are liable to a fee of £100, with £10 for each additional day you wait, which can combine to a maximum of £1000. At six months and twelve months, in addition to the above charges, you will be charged either £300 or 5% of the tax due – whichever is the higher figure. In some cases you may be asked to pay 100% or more of the total due, on top of the additional penalties.

If you haven’t done so yet, preparing these documents ready will help you when filling out the online form:

• Your employment income (plus P45s/P60s/P11Ds)
• Your self employed income
• Your qualifying expenses (check what qualifies at https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees)
• Any taxable benefits you have received (Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, etc.)
• Your pension income
• Your investment income
• Your property income
• Details of any tax reliefs (pension contributions, Gift Aid donations, etc.)

Estimates of these figures may be acceptable in the short term, providing you inform HMRC they are estimates, but you must submit the actual figures at a later date and reimburse for any underpayments you may have made.