It’s important to be on top of your tax affairs. The authorities have a reputation for being rather ruthless with those who don’t pay, however, this is somewhat unfair representation. If you are honest and have any trouble you will find that, in most cases, you will be able to discuss it with them, and if you don’t try to hide anything they are usually quite helpful.
Know Your Employment Status
You may find this a patronising question, but these days you need to be sure as there are more subtleties than simply employed or self-employed. You can find plenty of jobs where you are exclusively working for one firm but are technically classed as a self-employed subcontractor, delivery driver is a prominent example of this. Other times you would feel more like you are working as a freelancer, but you are employed on various short-term contracts and are an employee working in the creative arts has this as a common set-up. You may be on a low wage but still employed, such as an apprentice.
Be Organized
No matter how you earn your money, be organised. Keep all documents, and ensure they are kept in a way that you can find what you need. If you are self-employed, this will mean receipts, invoices, and even any documents related to employees. When working for someone you should keep all payslips and end-of-year statements, you never know when you might need to query your tax if there’s an error. You may also need to claim for expenses, even if you are an employee, such as the uniform allowance, so keep all receipts.
Don’t Leave Everything to the Last Minute
If you must submit a tax return be sure to be organised in time, check months in advance as late returns mean a penalty notice. Check you have all your tax documents to hand, if it is your first return, you may need to know How To Get A UTR Number.If you have all of your receipts ordered and logged this will cut down on admin time. It would make sense to do your book-keeping regularly, using one of the many software packages available helps with this and even prepares the accounts in a way that’s easy to use in a tax return. The software can also generate many reports that are beneficial to the running of your business.
Think About an Accountant
As much as everything we’ve discussed up until this point will help you when preparing your tax return, sometimes professional help is required. What advantages are there to using the services of an accountant? Firstly, you can be assured that there is a much lower chance of a mistake. But the real advantage of a good accountant is that despite costing you money, they should be able to make you significant savings on your tax bill. They will know what allowances and expenses are relevant to your industry.
