HMRC’s Deadline Is Not Our Deadline
Understanding Your Business
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“HMRC’s deadline, is not our deadline, it’s just a date, who claims that iiiiiit is the one” – to the tune of “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson.
Ok, so maybe I should lay off the coffee.
Anyway, happy 6th of April!
Which means it is the start of a new tax year and by virtue, the end of another tax year (control your excitement!).
But here’s the thing and the reality……
HMRC give us a statutory date to file a tax return.
For the tax year ended 5th April 2023 (the 2022/23 tax year), this is the 31st January 2024.
Nearly 10 months, pretty generous yeah?
But let’s run you through this scenario. You have a flight to catch at 10 am. The gate to the flight closes at 9.30 am. What time do you roll up to the airport? 9.25? 8.45?
No of course you don’t.
So ask yourself why? Because it gives no room for error. And even without error, it would be a stressful and horrendous experience.
Traffic delays on the way there, problems with parking, check-in issues, security issues, finding that the gate is miles away, one child always needing a well-timed number 2 – you mitigate against all of that by getting there early, way before you need to be.
You can relax, beer in hand, enjoying the process, knowing that everything is taken care of and in hand.
Your tax return is no different.
Yes, you get 10 months to get your act together but what happens if you are last minute?
You miss out or forget about vital information, ways that the tax bill can be reduced are overlooked or simple not possible, and the tax bill hits you with about as much notice and as much force as a slap in the face.
That’s why we’ve designed a better process and will now require your 2022/23 tax return information to be with us by the 30th of June at the latest.
This will help us to better plan for you and be able to give you a tax liability figure for 2022/23 by the 31st of August at the latest – or 2 months from when you send us the information (hint, the sooner you get us the information, the sooner we can give you the tax liability figure and the longer you have to plan & save for it – send it in May, get it in July).
When you prepare to go on holiday, you make plans, prepare and get organised.
If we can do this for 2 weeks in the sun, then we can definitely do it for our businesses and tax affairs.
30th of June – that’s the deadline (not some random date next January!) – we’ll be hot on to make sure we all meet it!
Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss how we can get you more in control of your tax affairs.
