Kelly Goodchild, tax manager at Streets Chartered Accountants, considers whether you may need to submit a Self-Assessment return.
There are a number of reasons why you might need to complete a Self-Assessment return. This includes if you are self-employed, a company director, have an annual income over £100,000 and / or have income from savings, investment or property.
Taxpayers that need to complete a Self-Assessment return for the first time should inform HMRC as soon as possible. The latest date that HMRC should be notified is by 5 October following the end of the tax year for which a Self-Assessment return needs to be filed. If you are required to submit a Self-Assessment return for 2021-22, you should ensure that you file your tax return electronically and pay any tax due by 31 January 2023.
HMRC has an online tool (www.gov.uk/check-if-you-need-tax-return/) that can help you check if you are required to submit a Self-Assessment return.
The list of taxpayers that are usually required to submit a Self-Assessment return includes:
- The self-employed (earning more than £1,000);
- Taxpayers who had £2,500 or more in untaxed income;
- Those with savings or investment income of £10,000 or more before tax;
- Taxpayers who made profits from selling things like shares, a second home or other chargeable assets and need to pay Capital Gains Tax;
- Company directors – unless it was for a non-profit organisation (such as a charity) and you did not get any pay or benefits, like a company car;
- Taxpayers whose income (or that of their partner’s) was over £50,000 and one of you claimed Child Benefit;
- Taxpayers who had income from abroad that they needed to pay tax on;
- Taxpayers who lived abroad and had a UK income;
- Income over £100,000.
You may choose to complete your own Self-Assessment tax return. However, you may find using the services of a tax specialist has a number of benefits. These include:
- Ensuring all tax allowances and deductions are claimed
- Easing the burden of additional paperwork
- Specialist tax knowledge which can help you minimise or even mitigate fully any tax liability, now or in the future.
Whilst the deadline for filing your return may seem months away, the sooner it is completed even if you don’t submit it, the sooner you will have peace of mind, be able to budget or plan to make a payment, but also ensure that any tax demand is as little as it can be.
See this column in the October edition of East Midlands Business Link Magazine here.
