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Kristian Charles Williams

Kristian Charles Williams

May 10, 2023

Self Assessment ? 10 common mistakes when filing your Tax Return (2019/2020)

TAXO'D the taxman and totally avoid these common mistakes when filing your Self-Assessment January 31st, 2021

Self Assessment ? 10 common mistakes when filing your Tax Return

With Christmas done and dusted and 2020 disappearing in the rear-view mirrors ..

WAIT .. why is the approaching landscape in the windscreen the same as the rear-view mirrors ?!?

NOoooo .. is this a space-time continuum causal loop ?!? 

Regardless of 2021 looking exactly like the Cluster Foxtrot that 2020 plunged permanently into .. it appears that Uncle Rishi is still 'far from the madding (albeit very logical) crowd' and is showing no signs of pushing back the tax return deadline for self-assessment, which remains as 31st of January 2021.

TAXO'D TOP TIP - The deadline for your self-assessment tax return is the 31st of January 2021 (31.01.2021)

Hopefully, you have already filed direct to HMRC within the TAXO'D app or desktop version and have kept on top of recording your income and expenses throughout the tax year. No green form. No accountants. No stress. 

Rushing your tax return last-minute often leads to expensive mistakes (sometimes not however) due to submission errors a poor understanding of what is needed. Missing the deadline altogether will see you hit with penalties from HMRC (ranging from a few quid to 100% of your tax bill) effectively meaning you pay your tax twice over!

We at TAXO'D are not here to preach (we will leave that to Madonna's papa .. actually he didn't preach neither did he?) So if you are rushing to get your self-assessment done in the remaining few weeks, here are some things to consider :

1. Not knowing deadlines

  • The UK tax year for individuals starts on April 6th and ends on April 5th.
  • Self-assessment registration opens October 5th.
  • Self-assessment paper deadline is Oct 31st.
  • Self-assessment online deadline is January 31st.

2. Being slow to get a Unique Taxpayer Reference Number (UTR)

  • Getting a UTR number can take up to a month so get it done early.
  • Also make sure to know and input your National Insurance (NI) number correctly

3. Not maximising claimable expenses, tax reliefs and refunds

How long does it take to get a tax refund! Well you will never know unless you know some more about it ;-)

4. Forgetting to declare money you have gifted to charity

  • Donating through Gift Aid means charities can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give. It will not cost you any extra.
  • You can include all donations from the last 4 years.The tax could have been paid on income or capital gains.
  • If you pay tax above the basic rate, you can claim the difference between the rate you pay and basic rate on your donation. (Example : You donate £100 to charity. They claim Gift Aid to make your donation £125. You pay 40% tax so you can personally claim back £25.00 (£125 x 20%).
  • In your Self Assessment tax return, you normally only report things from the previous tax year. But for Gift Aid, you can also claim tax relief on donations you make in the current tax year (up to the date you send your return)
TAXO'D blog - common self assessment mistakes

5. Forgetting to claim private pension contributions

  • If you pay into a pension you will need to enter those contributions on your tax return. Claim too little and you will miss out on tax relief, but claim too much and hmcr will charge interest on this underpayment.

6. Not fully utilising your tax free allowances

  • We should all be aware that personal allowance (amount of income you do not have to pay tax on) is £12,500 but there are other allowances that you may qualify for. See HMCR full list here.

7. Not including interest on income

  • Remember to include any interest that you receive from a bank or building society. This includes interest earned from loans, online peer-to-peer lending, credit unions, friendly society accounts and dividends from UK companies. Interest from ISAs is not to be included. If you have received a large one-off payment (e.g PPI compensation payment) that has generated interest, you should check whether this should be included.

8. Overlooking payments on account

  • If you’re self-employed, remember that payments on account are charged at the end of January and the end of July. Hence these payment could be 50% bigger than you are expecting.
TAXO'D blog - common self assessment mistakes

9. Not declaring salary from a full or part-time job

  • You will need to let HMRC know about your other jobs (in addition to being self employed) so you don’t pay extra tax. Ask your employer for a P60 and P11D which shows you how much you earned and how much tax was paid with them. You will need to record these figures on the Employment pages of your tax return.

10. Using a wrong tax code

  • First up - PLEASE DON'T PANIC IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A TAX CODE !! (You are self-employed after all) I have only included this if you are self-employed but also do a full or part time job (see point 9 above) You will need to find your tax code (3 numbers followed by an L) on your payslip. You can check it is the correct tax code here. You may well get a tax refund (and if it's been wrong for many you you may get £1000's from the HMRC. Money from the HMRC! I said that right!)

All of these may be eureka moments for you and that is what this blog post hoped to achieve. However, they may be eureka moments coupled with 'but I haven't got enough time before the deadline to complete all these.' The biggest takeaway here is :

TAXO'D TOP TIP - Always give yourself enough time to complete your self assessment. There is no 'late is the new cool' tick-box to be checked here. Get it done and get it done early. A good method is to stop thinking of January 31st as your digital deadline - think of the deadline as October 31st ;-)

Why not let TAXO'D tax return app for freelancers handle all of your tax woes?

We provide an end-to-end tax solution for all freelancers and most self-employed tax payers. Record as you go, know what you owe and file direct to HMRC. No Green Form. No More Accountants. All from your phone or desktop.

TAXO'D is a salary tax calculator. You record as you go (on your phone or your computer) day by day, throughout the tax year. As the weeks unfold and you are actively recording your income and expenses. With TAXO'D personal tax app - you will see in real-time displays the tax and National Insurance that you owe.With TAXO'D tax return software know exactly what tax you owe and when you owe it. Simple.

TAXO'D mobile tax tool does away with the need for an accountant, saving you further money and time. If you are earning money independently and responsible for your own taxes then sign up today. And find out why TAXO'D is the best self assessment software for freelancers and contractors.

Tax Sucks! Spend less time and money on it with TAXO'D tax filing app

Disclaimer: This is simply a guide and should not be treated as tax advice. Contact HMRC directly if you need tax advice.

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TAXO'D blog Author

Kristian Charles Williams

Head of Growth, Partnerships & Mugician

A freelance human and one that resides in creative industries. For the best part I have been an independent musician and a (not-so-independent) composer.

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