Whether you file it on paper or online, your tax return is the form you use to declare all your taxable income to HMRC. You also use tax returns for claiming any tax allowances you’re entitled to, or any tax rebates you’re owed. HMRC uses the information you send them to work out how much tax you owe or are owed back. Getting your tax returns right can be complicated and stressful – and even innocent mistakes can cost you. RIFT can take care of the whole messy business for you, handling all the paperwork and hitting all the deadlines.
A tax return is a simple way of telling the taxman:
HMRC takes that information, crunches the numbers and comes back with the total amount of tax you owe. If you're self-employed, you'll use a self-assessment tax return to sort out your allowances.
The tax return rules have a lot of hoops to jump through, so it's definitely worth getting comfortable with the information on this page. Not understanding what you were supposed to do is no excuse in the taxman's eyes.
Tax returns aren't just for the self-employed people, either. There are actually loads of reasons why HMRC might expect a return from you. So, if you're the director of a company or have income outside of your main job, don't ignore the taxman when he starts sniffing around for a return.
On the other hand, if you've got work expenses you pay yourself and might be due a tax rebate, our simple tax rebate calculator will point you in the right direction.
The documents you need to file a Self Assessment tax return will vary according to your circumstances. Here are some of the most important things to keep on hand when you're doing the paperwork. Remember that not all of them may apply to you, particularly if you haven't done any "on the books" work for an employer during the tax year:
If you're new to self-employment, you'll also need to register for the Self Assessment system. For that, you'll need:
As long as you’ve got your tax return filed online by the 31st of January the following year, you can do it whenever’s convenient. Having said that, it’s really not a great idea to wait until the last minute. The more notice you give yourself to get your return filed and your tax paid, the easier things will be for you. Filing sooner gives you a heads-up of what you owe long before you need to come up with the cash, for instance. That means you’re giving yourself some valuable time for planning and saving up. On top of that, things tend to get a little hectic at HMRC as the tax return deadline creeps closer.
Once you've filed your tax return online you can see it, along with your returns from previous tax years, by logging into your Government Gateway account. If you need to make changes to a tax return, you can do that there, too. However, there's a time limit for amendments. If you haven't made the changes you need to after 12 months from the filing deadline (31st of January), then you've left it too late.
Things get a little more complicated if you file your Self Assessment tax returns on paper. In that case, you'll need to download a new tax return document from the government website and correct the information in that. Since the deadline for paper tax returns is different, your deadline for amendments is different, too. In this case, you get a limit of 12 months after the paper deadline of the 31st of October.
You won't normally receive a tax return from HMRC. They announced that they'd no longer be sending them out back in 2020. However, you can file your tax return online any time after the end of the tax year it belongs to. Simply log into your account on the government website to get started. If you need to use a paper tax return for any reason, you can download one from there, too.
You can expect to be sent reminders from HMRC when they're expecting you to submit a Self Assessment tax return. Never ignore these, even if you haven't made any self-employment profits or don't know why you're being asked to file a return. Of course, if you're a RIFT customer, we'll remind you ourselves when there's a deadline looming, in plenty of time for us to get your tax return prepared and submitted for you.
A tax rebate is the money HMRC gives you back when you've paid too much tax for any reason. Tax returns, by contrast, are one of the tools you use to claim that refund. If you're paying out over £2,500 in work expenses each year, for example, the taxman will ask for a tax return from you before he pays out on your refund claim.
When you’re self-employed or working through CIS (the Construction Industry Scheme), you'll use a Self Assessment tax return to report the cash coming in and going out. It's still easy to end up paying too much tax through Self Assessment, though, so getting expert help is always a smart move.
A Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number is a 10 digit code that you or your company get from HMRC to identify you for tax purposes.
If you work in trades and need a UTR number, RIFT can help. We can also help you out if you've lost your UTR number. Click the button below to find out more.
UK Tax years run from the 6th of April to the 5th of April the following calendar year. For example, the tax year covering 2023/24 ended on the 5th April 2024. This means your tax rebate for that year could cover expenses from as far back as 2021/22.
As for why the tax year is worked out from such odd dates - well, it's complicated. The short answer is that Pope Gregory XIII messed everything up and September 1752 was missing 11 days. After that, things get tricky...
If you’re paid via the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS), you’ll have to start filing annual Self Assessment tax returns after your first year of trading. You’ll submit your tax return after the end of the tax year in April, then pay any tax you owe by the end of following January.
RIFT’s dedicated CIS tax return team is always standing by and ready to help with any questions, problems or worries you may have. We also have a CIS calculator, which is free to use if you'd like an instant estimate of how much your CIS tax rebate could be worth.
It all depends on the accountant. You might be offered a fixed fee for a basic tax return service, or get stung with an expensive hourly rate. Either way, the charges made by traditional accountants can vary widely. Your circumstances can make a major difference, too. For example, a CIS subcontractor might be charged £250 as a fixed fee. However, the same accountant might charge £350 for a Sole Trader with full accounts to go through. A partnership might easily be charged £400 or more for the same service, while Limited Companies could find themselves billed £650 or even more. When you get into clocking up hourly rates, tax return accountant fees as high as £120 per hour aren't unusual.
RIFT is different. We’ve got a tax return service with no hourly rates to and no hidden charges to spring on you. Our price start from £114 (including VAT) but get in touch for a quote.
VAT (Value Added Tax) was introduced to the UK in 1973 and is a tax imposed on most goods and services. If you operate a business you must charge VAT on the goods and services you supply and pay this to HMRC. You'll do this through your regular VAT returns.
When you submit a VAT return, HMRC will compare the amount of VAT you’ve charged with the amount you’ve paid and then settle up the difference with you. If you’ve paid out more VAT than you’ve collected on your sales, you’ll get the difference back. If you’ve charged more than you’ve paid, you’ll send the difference to HMRC. Either way, your VAT returns can have a big impact on the money flowing through your business, so it’s important to get them right.
Since 2019, the Making Tax Digital rules for VAT have meant that basically everyone has to submit VAT returns online, using what HMRC calls 'functional compatible software'. The way you do this will vary with the software you're using, but the basic information you'll need will include:
The software you use should handle the actual process of submitting your VAT return online.
For most businesses, the deadline for submitting VAT returns online comes around every 3 months. Depending on how you're set up, though, you might be submitting VAT returns monthly or yearly instead. Your accounting period will determine the deadlines for submitting your VAT returns:
For yearly periods, there are monthly or quarterly advance payments throughout the year, then a final payment deadline for 2 months after the accounting period ends.
If you miss the deadline for submitting a VAT return or paying up any VAT you may owe, you can expect to get a 'VAT notice of assessment of tax' from HMRC. You'll also start racking up 'penalty points' even if you don't actually owe any VAT. Once you hit a set number of penalty points determined by your accounting period, HMRC will give you a £200 penalty. Every late submission after that will cost you another £200. You can check how many points you've built up in your online account.
You can check when your VAT returns are due, and keep track of a lot of other important details, with your VAT online account.
14th November 2024
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