Q: I haven’t yet sent in my self-assessment tax return. What should I do now?
Aug 17 2005
Answered by: Jackie Jarvis Ask a question
You don’t say what the hold-up has been caused by, or even if you are hopelessly behind in getting your return ready, but if you send your return in now (must be before 31 January to avoid the automatic £100 penalty), you should also send in a calculation of your tax bill along with a cheque for the amount of tax due on 31 January. If you have an accountant who produces your accounts for you, it may make sense to ask them to sort out your form for you – although of course you have to provide the information. The accountant should be able to complete the requested information about your business with some ease, but it is of course your responsibility, not the accountant’s, to get it right.
If your sales are less than £15,000 for the year you only have to give sales, expenses and net profits. Unless you have just started in business, you will be giving the figures for your accounting year which ended during the preceding April.
If you don’t use an accountant, get on with it! Open up the package sent to you by the Inland Revenue to check that you have the right forms and start to obtain all the figures you need, including your accounts figures. If you are doing it yourself and have not yet worked out your accounts figure, you really have got a lot of work to do in the next month.
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