Here at James Scott Accountants, we are currently working hard to make sure we have done everything possible to ensure our clients do not miss the deadline of January 31st to get their personal tax returns submitted to HMRC.
Surely people do not leave right to the last moment – I here you say? Well, according to HMRC almost 50 percent of last year’s returns were filed in the final month of January. That’s 2.3million tax returns!
Amongst others, personal tax returns must be submitted by the self-employed and those who are in a business partnership and it will cover earnings from the 6th April 2017 – 5th April 2018.
The bad news is that any tax you owe also needs to be paid to HMRC by the 31st of January 2019 and at this stage the only option you have left is to make a submission online (paper submissions could be made up until the 31st October 2018). In order to submit your return online you need a 10 digit code which is generated by HMRC and this can take up to 10 days for the activation code to be sent out. So James Scott’s advice is ACT NOW!
Missing the deadline really isn’t a great option, there is an automatic £100 fine and you have to pay 5% surcharge of the total tax due if not settled within 30 days of the filing deadline. If you are more than 90 days late and the fine climbs to £10 per day up to a maximum of £900.
There are also a couple of changes which only came in more recently. You can no longer pay your tax bill at the Post Office and neither can you pay by personal credit card. You may still pay by personal debit card and company credit card, although there is a fee for paying by company credit card.