The weeks are steadily creeping up to September 30, the final date for businesses to fill in their tax returns and avoid the hassles that come with late payment.
All tax returns that have been completed and filed by September 30 will be calculated for tax liability by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), and if the tax owed is less than £2,000 this will be collected through the taxpayers notice of coding.
Returning tax claims before the deadline isn’t just a way to ease the stress of paying outstanding tax, but also helps to avoid trawling through pages of guidance on how to calculate tax liability.
“By completing their tax return by September 30, individual taxpayers can potentially save a lot of time and hassle,” said Leonie Kerswill, tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
“Sending in your tax earlier doesn’t mean you have to pay tax earlier, but the sooner you complete your tax return, the more time you’ll have to get help from the HMRC if you need it,” she added.
There are many advantages for businesses to make the deadline on time: for example, the HMRC will calculate the amount of tax a business would need to pay by January 31 2008, and also give a month’s warning.
However, after this September the deadline dates are set to change: from next year, the filing deadlines will change to the October 31 for paper forms (whether taxpayers calculate their own tax or not) and will leave January 31 for the HMRC to automatically calculate e-filed tax returns.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
