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If you had a source of income during the year ended 5 April 2007, which will give rise to a tax liability and therefore needs to be reported to the Inland Revenue, and you are not issued with a Tax Return (shortly after 6 April 2007), you should notify the Inland Revenue before 5 October 2007. We can do this on your behalf. (Note that you should submit form CWF1 to the Inland Revenue within 3 months of commencing a business, otherwise you will be subject to a £100 penalty.)
The deadlines for the 2007 Tax Returns, which are for income for the Year Ended 5 April 2007 are -
There is no penalty for not submitting a Return by 30 September, but if the Revenue issue a Return and it is not submitted by 31 January 2008, a £100 penalty is automatically charged.
This late filing penalty is automatically capped at the amount of tax outstanding, so one way of avoiding a penalty may be to make a payment of the tax due - make sure the cheque clears before the 31 January!
It may also be possible to cancel a late filing fee if you have ceased a self employment, have notified the Inland Revenue, and have no other matters to report on a SA Return. Source - the Inland Revenue Working Together article.
Whether the Inland Revenue have issued a payslip or not, late payment of tax will incur interest and penalty charges.
We will not be responsible for any late filing penalties unless we have the relevant information from which to complete the Return by 1 November 2007, but we will attempt submit Returns before the 31 January whenever we receive instructions, and we may be able to avoid the automatic penalty.
Our charges for preparing Self Assessment Returns start at £80 plus VAT.
You may find the attached checklist for 2008 helpful in gathering the information required to complete your Return.
Why not plan ahead and prepare a folder for your 2008 Return now, then put all your information for that Return in that folder throughout the year?
Similar rules applied for the previous year.
If you consider that the Inland Revenue might dispute the treatment or valuation of a transaction which you have to report, it is possible to request a post transaction ruling or a post transaction valuation check before submitting your Return. Obviously you should request this as early as possible. The Revenue will not general give such a ruling in advance of a transaction.
Reminder - disclaimer applies. Please feedback your comments. This page was last modified 4 April 2008.