The benefits of filing your tax return today

As we say goodbye to a lovely bright summer, now is a good time to shine the light on your finances and file your tax return early to avoid the winter blues.

The one good thing about the tax return deadline is that it always remains the same, which means that a little bit of organisation and the help of your accountant, you should be able to avoid facing penalties by maintaining easily accessible and up-to-date records of your income and expenses throughout the year.

Yet people still leave it until the last minute – 2.6 million taxpayers had still not filed their return two days before the 31st January 2018 deadline.

File now, pay later

Calculating your tax liabilities and filing your return now will allow you time to start budgeting and managing your cash flow, and to plan for paying any tax you may owe. Speeding through your tax return at the last minute increases the risk of mistakes being made, and HM Revenue & Customs has declared it will – and does- issue fines for errors. If you pay your tax bill late, HMRC will charge you interest and possibly even late payment penalties. Filing your tax return early does not mean you are obliged to pay any tax liability before the 31st January.

Get a tax refund sooner

Refunds of tax can often arise for employees or directors when HMRC has made errors with its tax codes. Also, it is not unusual for building subcontractors operating under the Construction Industry Scheme to receive tax refunds.

Therefore, the earlier you file your tax return, the sooner any refund you may be eligible for will be processed. So why wait until January when refunds usually take longer to be issued as this is HMRC’s busiest time?

We can help file your tax return 

Tax has become an ever-changing and increasingly complex field and unless you have expert knowledge, you may be left bewildered and miss out on all the reliefs you are eligible for. Without the help of an advisor, you could end up paying too much tax without realising, or accidently pay too little and risk an investigation.

So why wait, call our Tax Partner Simon Odam  01932 868 444 today, beat the deadline and be safe in the knowledge that you can be relaxed about your tax.