I was wondering how many of you did your own tax return like me towards the end of January and have said to yourself you will do it in April this year!!!!
I had good intentions of doing mine at Christmas just gone, but ended up working in the end and then as usual had a really busy January so finished it off last weekend and paid the tax.
After spending Saturday afternoon finishing it off I have sworn to myself that I am going to do it in April/May, actually probably May as the kids have got 2 weeks off in April which doesn't help!
How may of you are the same as me???
I know Shaun posted on here that he did his in January anyone else?
I always do mine round about June/July time.....just like to get it done and out of the way...hate leaving things to the last minute! (Dodges wet sponges thrown in my direction!)
Last year I did mine on the 31st of Jan and this time I did mine on 28th so I was better by 3 days!
The really stupid thing was all of my sales are invoiced through QB's as I go, it was just small receipts from Asda and a few stationery shops and mobile phone to sort out and that was it. All my expenses I do on a spreadsheet weekly, like mileage, odd stamp etc and then I post them in QB at the end of the year, so really I had no excuse as to why I couldn't have got it all on QB sooner other than workload and other peoples' rushed jobs getting in my way!
I am going to set myself a deadline of 31st May this year and see if I stick to it. Like Pauline said I will hold on till the last minute to pay the tax!
No Kris won't get a fine because HMRC staff were on strike on 31st so they have given a two day (till tomorrow) amnesty.
I did mine last week and actually paid last Friday because last year I had a major panic was paying on the 31st by internet and found that I couldn't pay more than £2000 in any one day on internet banking. Found out by ringing up when it wouldn't go through, anyway the call centre bod said I could pay it by telephone banking - course I didn't know my code for that as had never used it anyway he was very good and asked me every possible security question and allowed the payment.
I always say I'll not leave it to the last minute next year - but always do.
Actually, I was going to do it last night, then when I heard I had until tomorrow night I just had to leave it. I'm a bit annoyed at the tax man you see. It seems that some time during the year they decided they owed me £50, did they put it in my account? No, they left it sitting with them showing me a 'claim' button on my personal HMRC online account that I rarely log into except when paying my tax. So I thought I'd wait till the last minute to show my annoyance. Ha!
I didn't have anything to pay this year as I got to claim furnishing my office or I'd have been like Sheila.
I was very good this year and did mine in November. Its the new me :D I normally end up with a fine, although last year got a huge rebate which was good, though would've been better without the fine. I really need to log in though cos they owe me again this year (all stemming from when I was employed and on maternity leave and then my employers - Sainsburys would you believe - issued my P45 without paying me holiday pay that was owing grrrr!!), and I haven't claimed it, so its just sitting there making them interest.
I think that the people at HMRC must be stressed out enough already so I wouldn't want to break their fragile grip on sanity with a shock such as my self assessment hitting their desks before mid January next year.
My view of filing early is filing in mid Jan rather than the end of Jan!
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I think that the people at HMRC must be stressed out enough already so I wouldn't want to break their fragile grip on sanity
Talking of fragile grips on sanity, one of my clients today received a letter from HMRC saying that they must now pay their PAYE online and that this method will replace their Employer's Payment Booklet. She hasn't used a payment booklet for at least 3-4 years (or at least since I've been working for her, which is 2 years). Makes you wonder if they're losing their grip on reality sometimes.
I completed my first ever Self Assessment c.27th January this year and made my HMRC payments by DD which wouldn't go through till 2nd Feb but luckily they had a strike so were accepting payments till 2nd Feb - phew. It had taken me ages (December 2011) to get a P45 off my previous employer (who'd gone into administration in 2010) hence the delay. Being my first year it was really difficult for me to get an idea of how much my taxable income was going to be until I submitted my return. I've now paid my tax for 2011-12 in advance (get me!!) so hopefully by April when I submit my return I will be done and dusted and able to give reliable information to the Working Tax credits people and go forward putting the right amount of tax aside for the 2012-13 year in which I'm working. That's the plan anyhow!
Following on from your post Pauline. I have a friend who keeps getting letters for PAYE claiming he owes money. It seems their system cant cope because he pays too EARLY. They end up crediting the payment to the previous month meaning he overpays that by the same amount they claim he hasn't paid.
When I first started with this client her PAYE payments had been allocated all over the place by HMRC. I think mainly this was because the previous bookkeeper didn't really know what she was doing. On trying to sort everything out, it turned out that she had paid two amounts of VAT to HMRC which had been allocated to PAYE and VAT was outstanding for two quarters! Only HMRC hadn't informed her and neither did she get any fines!
