Tax deadline fine
Discussion
Evening PH, Just had a letter through from the lovely HMRC people. They're wanting to charge me a £100 fine for not returning a self assesment tax return. I was fully expecting one for this past year as i was late getting it in, However this one states "financial year ending April 2009" - I take this to mean the period of April 2008- April 2009. However, I only started trading December 2008 <40 days before the deadline. When i contacted HMRC to register as self employed (start of december) i was informed by the lady on the phone that because i was commencing trading with <6months of the financial year to go and my first lot of invoices would not be due until after the deadline i was only required to submit a form for 2009-2010. I did not receive a Notice to file nor did i receive a self assesment form for this year.
Little bit confused, and not had chance to phone them today. But how does PH take it? Theres only a few scenarios i can work out:
Was i spun a line from HMRC and should really of completed a tax return covering accounts for Dec'08-Jan'09
Should my tax return for this year of included these dates? (Dec'08-Jan'10) ?
Or has there just been a cockup at their office?.
Little bit confused, and not had chance to phone them today. But how does PH take it? Theres only a few scenarios i can work out:
Was i spun a line from HMRC and should really of completed a tax return covering accounts for Dec'08-Jan'09
Should my tax return for this year of included these dates? (Dec'08-Jan'10) ?
Or has there just been a cockup at their office?.
The answer lies within the question 'what is your year end ?' although I must admit I haven't done a start up for some time as personal tax is now just a 'hobby' for mates who have been trading for years.
You can decide what your year end is. The logical ones are 31 December or 5 April - even if you hadn't traded for one year before the first 'year end'. Equally you could do 30 June or anything else.
That info will get you the answer to what you need (ed) to do.
Have you got an accountant ? I know its a cost, but equally they could save you their cost in tax payable. That's the fun in doing tax - exploiting the rules. I once saved a company £35k due to stuff tucked away in rules about immediate write off of costs complying with instructions made by a fire authority - or however it was worded.
You can decide what your year end is. The logical ones are 31 December or 5 April - even if you hadn't traded for one year before the first 'year end'. Equally you could do 30 June or anything else.
That info will get you the answer to what you need (ed) to do.
Have you got an accountant ? I know its a cost, but equally they could save you their cost in tax payable. That's the fun in doing tax - exploiting the rules. I once saved a company £35k due to stuff tucked away in rules about immediate write off of costs complying with instructions made by a fire authority - or however it was worded.
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