As 2019 comes to an end, the deadline for submitting your Self Assessment tax return, 31 January 2020, is swiftly approaching. You must send a tax return if, in the last tax year (6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019) you were self employed as a ‘sole trader’ earning more than £1,000, a partner in a business partnership, or if you have untaxed income including property income, tips and commissions, income from savings, investments or dividends, and foreign income. You may also need to fill in a tax return to claim income tax reliefs and depending on your (and any partner’s) income if you get Child Benefit. Anyone with an annual income which exceeds £100,000 must also submit a tax return.
HMRC revealed that last year, a total of 93.68% of Self Assessment tax returns were completed by the deadline which is a new record. More than 700,000 returns were submitted on deadline day, with the peak hour for filing between 4pm and 5pm when 60,000 returns were filed. The number of taxpayers who filed online reached more than 10 million for the first time. 11,564,363 tax returns were due last year, with a total of 731,186 taxpayers missing the filing deadline.
HMRC released a list of the weirdest excuses presented to them by those who had missed the filing deadline and attempted to avoid late filing penalties and these involved being too short to reach the postbox, being too cold to type due to a broken boiler, and being registered for Self Assessment by mistake by a Junior Accountant who was not wearing glasses!
They also released a list of the most outlandish ‘business’ expenses claimed by sole traders and these included a music subscription to help concentrate at work, a family holiday to Nigeria and a carpenter who claimed £900 for a 55 inch TV and sound bar to help him price his jobs.
If you are unsure about whether you need to file a Self Assessment tax return, and what expenses are legitimate business-related costs (that won’t be cited as outlandish by HMRC) then FKGB Accounting are here to help. Avoid the deadline day rush and needing to prepare any late-filing excuses and contact us today to ensure that your tax filing requirements are met.
