The 2020 budget has been long awaited. Delayed due to Brexit shenanigans, scuppered by a general election, complicated by a change of chancellor and then almost entirely wiped out by a global pandemic, this has been a hard one to get across the line. Across the line it is and Rishi Sunak did an admirable job. So what does it all mean for you hard working self employed folk out there? Let’s find out!
There are few things in life more stressful than a tax audit. Just when you think you’re on top of things that little brown envelope comes through the post and inside is an ominous looking letter. Not printer on the usual white paper but instead on a scary looking grey paper. At the top of the letter is says “Check of Self Assessment tax return for the year ended 5 April 2013” (in my case) and it’s accompanied by a leaflet “General information about compliance checks”. You’re being audited by HMRC and it’s time to put your record keeping to the test.
It’s that time of year again! For the first time in… as long as I can remember, the HMRC systems have had a bit of an update! Let’s see what’s new and what a UK self assessment tax return looks like.
Let’s have a little chat about record keeping in the UK! As a self employed person, you must keep records to back up the information you put on your self employed tax returns. You can keep paper records, electronic records (e.g. in a spreadsheet) or you can use software. So what sort of information do you need to keep track of?
The UK tax year for self employment and personal tax runs from 6th April to the following 5th April. An unusual set of dates considering most countries run from 1st January. Ever wondered why the UK tax year starts on 6th April? Let me try to explain…
Want to know exactly what a UK self assessment tax return looked like in 2018? Well here you go. Just for posterity this is a UK tax return for the 2016/17 tax year.
In this video I’m just showing you what a UK tax return looked like for the 2014/15 tax year. Don’t use this for anything important as it’s out of date now, just kept for posterity really.