Start The New Year Right – File Today
*Please note the information in this article may be out of date
January 31st marks the deadline for your Self Assessment tax return. If you have yet to submit, it’s now more important than ever to prepare your documentation and receipts – and get back to earning. COVID update 2020 deadline changed to 28th of February.
Thu, 30 Jan 2020*HMRC COVID19 update 25th January 2020- Self-assessment customers will not receive a penalty for their late online tax return if they file by 28th February. However any tax due for 2019-2020, that has not been paid on the 1st of February, will begin to incur interest, the usual rate is 2.6%. As penalties on tax owing do not begin until the 2nd March, this means that a return made before the 28th February will cost the taxpayer interest on tax owing, but no flat rate fine or penalty. So, in real terms, this is only an extension on the deadline for those who owe little or no tax.
To help you clear the path for a productive start to the new year, we’ve asked Mike Parkes from GoSimpleTax to explain the benefits of filing today.
Focus on the new year
January is generally a slow month for everyone. It’s the reason why most restaurants and retailers offer incredible discounts after all.
So whether you’re a plumber, freelancer or self-employed in some other capacity, you’ll know that prompting someone to make a purchase decision during this month requires a lot of chasing. All that is made much harder if you’re splitting your time between preparing your Self Assessment tax return and running your business.
This is why we encourage all our users to file early. Then, they can dedicate their full attention to their business operations.
Budget more effectively
Let’s not forget that submitting a tax return can result in you having a tax bill to pay. The deadline for tax payment is also the 31st January, so by leaving your tax return submission until the last minute, you won’t know how much tax you have to pay until very close to the deadline.
Have you made provision to pay your tax bill? Have you saved enough? Leaving the submission to the last minute can put you under financial strain if the answer to those questions is ‘no’.
Remember, filing your tax return early does not mean you have to pay the tax early. But the sooner you submit your tax return to HMRC, the sooner you know what your tax bill is.
Get the support you need
If you thought that accountants had it tough in January, you should see HMRC’s call centres. Tirelessly working to help taxpayers submit tax returns accurately and on time, their customer service team try their utmost to answer your queries and keep you compliant ahead of the new tax year. But, sometimes, they’re inundated.
As a warning to anyone considering leaving their submission until the week before the deadline, in January 2019, HMRC failed to meet their target of keeping callers waiting no more than 10 minutes. In fact, almost 20% of callers waited over 10 minutes before speaking to an advisor.
In the event that you need support from their team, we would always urge taxpayers to submit their Self Assessment tax return earlier rather than later.
With their software, GoSimpleTax make filing the Self Assessment tax return easy. Offering hints and tips along the way.
Take a 14 day free trial, no credit card required to see just how simple it really is.
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