Tax return blues - would a bit of solidarity help?

[angusmcfangus]

Oh I see. I've never waited for my bill to appear, I just work out what I owe by subtracting the payments on account. Doi. That sounds a lot better, one less worry. Just pay them what they ask for.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

??? and ???

If you are eluding to the £608, that was from a recalculation due to an error I spotted that I made on my expenses last year. It only appeared today after the amendment.
In all the time I have been self employed I have never made an error in the amount I have paid. It is literally taking the final result that needs to be paid before the 31st and deducting the payments on account that you have already made.

 

[Elpenor]

If it makes anyone feel better my cousin is an accountant and he still has 170 tax returns to file

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

That does make me feel better.

 

[teuchter]

Thanks, okay! I somehow confused myself, thinking it was different from my other business expenses, but it makes sense!

When you come to do your tax return, if your expenses for the year are <£1000 then you are best off using the automatic allowance (rather than putting the actual number in) and it also saves you having to find all the receipts etc.

 

[Smangus]

Done mine, I owe a whole 33 quid

 

[tommers]

They sent me a letter saying i needed to do one for 2020-21. The letter said I had three months from the letter date, which was December. I did it, I paid the tax. They've given me a late charge of 128 quid.

They're so fucking infuriating.

Once I had to pay some tax after my dad died. I had to do it by physically going into a bank (they said post office as well but that wasn't true) and handing over an actual cheque! That was in 2018!

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

When you come to do your tax return, if your expenses for the year are <£1000 then you are best off using the automatic allowance (rather than putting the actual number in) and it also saves you having to find all the receipts etc.

that'll be profit les than £1000 not expenses

 

[Leafster]

that'll be profit les than £1000 not expenses

No teuchter is correct. If your expenses are less than £1000 then you can use this allowance instead. However if your gross income is less than £1000 you can only make a partial claim to reduce the profit to zero.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

No teuchter is correct. If your expenses are less than £1000 then you can use this allowance instead. However if your gross income is less than £1000 you can only make a partial claim to reduce the profit to zero.

fair enough, accountancy not my thing more of a book keeper, my expenses are more than that but earnings enough that I can use the "enter a single figure for expenses" option.

 

[editor]

I actually went and bought a new vacuum cleaner instead of starting my tax return.

 

[Elpenor]

I suppose you can always declare part of the cost on next years return

 

[teuchter]

fair enough, accountancy not my thing more of a book keeper, my expenses are more than that but earnings enough that I can use the "enter a single figure for expenses" option.

I think you can always enter a single figure in the tax return but at least in theory you're supposed to have records and proof of all your expenses just in case they decide to question your figure.
Whereas with the allowance you don't need to bother (I think)

 

[equationgirl]

I did mine!, Somewhat earlier than usual. A modest rebate too, which I'm happy with.

I am just pleased that I could actually do it as I have suspected another bout of covid for the past week and my brain just wouldn't work until today.

 

[editor]

My new Hoover's brilliant!

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I'm getting several emails and texts urging me to pay now. . . I assume my tax books are cooked and ready to get out of the oven.
This one is going to be quite depressing for my bank account.

 

[equationgirl]

I'm getting several emails and texts urging me to pay now. . . I assume my tax books are cooked and ready to get out of the oven.
This one is going to be quite depressing for my bank account.

Solidarity mate.

 

[nick]

If it helps to incentivise the laggards:
If you pay the tax early, you will get a bank beating 2.5% interest tax free. And I reckon HMG is probably a safer bet than Revolut etc
Proper tax experts: feel free to tell me if I misunderstand the guidance
HMRC interest rates

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

If it helps to incentivise the laggards:
If you pay the tax early, you will get a bank beating 2.5% interest tax free. And I reckon HMG is probably a safer bet than Revolut etc
Proper tax experts: feel free to tell me if I misunderstand the guidance
HMRC interest rates

Yes. Obviously no good for this one, but maybe I should do the next payment on account early.

 

[nick]

5 days early on £608 at 2.5% = 21p you wouldn't have had otherwise.
Go on, treat yourself

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

5 days early on £608 at 2.5% = 21p you wouldn't have had otherwise.
Go on, treat yourself

Already paid that. . . and it was me paying interest on it as it was supposed to have been paid last January.
I have a lot more than that to pay. . . . however, as soon as we are in Feb I'll stick in my second payment on account. Six months of sweet sweet interest.

 

[nick]

Should anyone be having issues, I got this today (from the world's most boring mailing list)

With less than a week to go before the deadline for Self Assessment filing and tax payment, do not forget to remind clients who have cash flow problems that they need to arrange a 'time to pay' agreement with HMRC before the due date of payment.

Another point to watch is that if you are late in filing a return, you can avoid a tax penalty if you have a reasonable excuse for your failure. If so, it is up to you to retain sufficient evidence to back-up that excuse. If in doubt, write a note.

Suspect that hoover shopping won't cut it

 

[editor]

I've suddenly lost interest in cleaning up the house.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Paid.
It is over.

 

[nick]

Once tax is over, the only other inevitability you have to look forward to is death

 

[lazythursday]

Well I've started it. Managed to log in and do everything up to the important screen where you put your income and expenses in. Found my PAYE P60. So feeling slightly less stressed. Can put it off till Sunday now I think.

Next step is go through the incredibly laborious process of persuading my bank's terrible online system to generate me bank statements for 21/22. As I am rubbish at recording expenses and that's the only way I spot things (plus checking Amazon account). Will go for the standard allowance for home office use - did this last year and while it might have worked out a bit less in total it was worth it in lack of stress.

 

[nick]

Work from home, even for one day?, then don't forget to claim £312 against your employment expenses.

don't trust me, read the links
Martin Lewis

HMRC

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Work from home, even for one day?, then don't forget to claim £312 against your employment expenses.

don't trust me, read the links
Martin Lewis

HMRC

I don't trust you and the links don't back you up at all.

 

[nick]

I don't trust you and the links don't back you up at all.

No problem
Looks like I'm headed for a Zahawi style penalty then

 

[Elpenor]

I don't trust you and the links don't back you up at all.

He’s correct for the 2021/2022 tax year which is the one you’d be filing a return on in the next few days

The covid related free pass on working from home is not in place for 2022/2023 onwards