Organise your paperwork
First things first - make life easier for yourself and gather all your paperwork and digital documents if you haven’t already been on top of this throughout the year!
Don’t forget to claim your expenses
One of the simplest ways to reduce your tax bill is to check that you have claimed for all the expenses you’re entitled to, and if you’ve worked from home this year, you can claim the flat rate expense for working from home dependent upon the hours you work from home. There are also various other flat rate trade expenses which can be claimed along with actual expenses incurred.
Check your tax code
Every tax code is based on assumptions made by HMRC, so it’s easy to end up paying the wrong amount of tax. If your circumstances have changed recently or you have been given the wrong tax code, contact HMRC as soon as possible.
Save with the marriage allowance
If one person within a marriage or civil partnership is earning less than their £12,500 personal allowance (and therefore doesn’t pay tax), they can transfer up to £1,187 of that allowance to their basic rate tax-paying partner with the rebate of up to £250 a year - applicants can back date their claim to the previous five tax years – every little helps to reduce your tax bill.
Claim back on charitable donations
If you’re a higher-rate taxpayer and have made gift-aided charitable donations during the year you can claim back the higher-rate tax you have paid.
Be aware that tax is going digital
HMRC are in the process of transforming the tax online filing system by the introduction of ‘Making Tax Digital’. This system will affect all taxpayers eventually over the next few years, with Businesses, self-employed people and landlords being required to:
- operate MTD from 6 April 2024 in relation to their trading and property income chargeable to Income Tax and Class 4 NICs if their gross income from these income sources for a tax year exceeds £10,000
- keep their records digitally (for ITSA purposes only),provide digital quarterly updates and provide their ITSA return information to HMRC through MTD compatible software
If all of this sounds too much, our final tip is – consider using an accountant
If your stress levels are rising alongside the mound of paperwork on your desk, whilst you’re trying to run your business amongst a myriad of other important tasks, you may want to consider acquiring the help of an accountant. Not only can we remove the unwanted stress of compiling and submitting your tax return in the first place, you can rest assured it will be filled out correctly, meaning no nasty surprise letters, calls or visits from the tax man later in the year!
LWA are here to help!
If you need a hand with completing your tax return in time for 31st January 2022, we can assist you with any final tweaks or support to help you meet that deadline accurately and efficiently! Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our expert tax team in Manchester on 0161 905 1801 or in Warrington on 01925 830 830.