The “clock is ticking” for the nine million people who have to file a self-assessment tax form, says Kara Gammell in The Daily Telegraph. High earners, the self-employed and anyone with more than one source of income has to send a tax return to HM Revenue & Customs along with any tax due by 31 January.
If you miss the deadline, there is an automatic £100 fine, plus accrued interest. If this is the first time you have filed online, then crack on – you also need to register for an ‘activation code’ and password, which is sent by post and can take a week to arrive.
To make completing the return as painless as possible, gather all your paperwork first: payslips, bank statements, pension details, income, capital gains, income from investments and savings and any rental income – on and off shore. If you can’t find a figure, make a decent estimate, as leaving a box blank can hamper HMRC’s tax calculator. Also keep receipts for anything you are claiming. Lastly, don’t panic if you forget something – you can save your online return at any point.