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Tax Return…? Do I have to…?

If you are a Director of a company, even if it’s not making an income, even if you’re not yet taking a salary, this post is for you…

Date
8 September 2017
Author
Steven Case Steven Case
Reading time
Around 3 min
Categories
#Personal Tax
#Management accounts
#personal-tax-returns
#FBX Assist

It’s easy to think that assuming your salary is all paid via PAYE and that you have nothing left to declare that there’s no reason for you to fill in a Self Assessment Tax Return – WRONG! HMRC’s guidance is very clear and many people get caught out and receive fines starting at £200. Here’s a list of the categories you may fall into;

You’ll need to send a tax return if, in the last tax year:

  • you were self-employed

  • you got £2,500 or more in untaxed income, for example from tips or renting out a property

  • your income from savings or investments was £10,000 or more before tax

  • your income from dividends from shares was £10,000 or more before tax

  • you made profits from selling things like shares, a second home or other chargeable assets

  • you were a company director – unless it was for a non-profit organisation (such as a charity) and you didn’t get any pay or benefits

  • your income (or your partner’s) was over £50,000 and one of you claimed Child Benefit

  • you had income from abroad that you needed to pay tax on

  • you lived abroad and had a UK income

  • your income was over £100,000

  • you were a trustee of a trust or registered pension scheme

  • you had a P800 from HMRC saying you didn’t pay enough tax last year – and you didn’t pay what you owe through your tax code or with a voluntary payment

Source

HMRC are constantly changing the criteria of who needs to fill in self-assessment tax return and with MTD coming closer it’s only a matter of time before we’re all likely to need to do these regularly.

If you fall subject to one of these fines, it is possible that we can help. Although HMRC are the issuers of these fines and the makers of the guidance page, their guidance is not the law and therefore depending on your income sources there may be a way we can help you have the fines removed. However, getting a return filed is relatively painless and we can do them for you for less than the cost of the fine in the first place.

If you’re still not sure if this affects you, get in contact and we’ll help.