Partner Article

Five expert tips on how to manage your tax returns

It is the time of year that many dread. Not the return to work, or the New Years diet, but the deadline for filing your self-assessment tax return.

By midnight on 31 January you need to have filled in your form and returned it to HM Revenue & Customs, together with payment for any tax you owe for the 2012/13 financial year.

More than 10 million people are due to file returns by the end of the month, and as of 13th January more than 4 million had not done so.

Sheila Berry, tax partner in the Manchester office of international accountants UHY Hacker Young, believes that there are some simple steps that you can take to help make this a hassle free time of year.

Step 1: Get it in – First and foremost you must get it completed, don’t bury your head in the sand – missing the deadline will result in a heavy fine – just stay calm and make the time to get it finished.

Step 2: Get online – Filling in your returns online takes away a lot of the hassles of filing paper returns – it even calculates your tax for you as you proceed.

Step 3: Ask for help – Don’t be afraid to ask for help, there are people at hand who can assist you, either professionally through a firm such as ours or through the HMRC and other public money advice bureaus.

Step 4: Keep records – Make sure that once you have collated all of the necessary information and submitted your returns, you keep a copy of your return and the documents you have used. You never know when you may need the information again.

Step 5: Plan ahead – Make it your new year’s resolution to get organised for next year and start filing away your records as you go. Also do have a think about whether it may be worthwhile getting someone to take away the headaches of next year’s return, it can often work out to be more cost effective in the long run.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ian Hunter .