Tax Return deadline looms. Don’t forget to pay any amounts due by 31 January!

Tax return deadline looms for online submission

It’s that dreaded time of year again when the Tax Return deadline looms and you have to pay HMRC their dues by 31 January. If you haven’t provided everything to your accountant or submitted your return by now then you are seriously running out of time to get this done.

Unless you are a particularly organised person, it’s not a good idea to leave things this late lest you find you are missing those final bank or dividend details that you’ll need to have to be able to complete the return.

HMRC normally send out a tax statement this time of the year to all self-assessment taxpayers that have submitted a tax return for 2020-21.

This will list any balance of tax due for 2020-21 and the amount of any payment on account required for 2021-22 (if any is due).

Both amounts will need to be settled on or before 31 January 2022 to avoid interest and possible late payment penalties.

If you don’t receive a statement but you know how much you need to pay, simply organise an online bank payment to:

HMRC Cumbernauld – sort code 08 32 10 – account number 12001039, or

HMRC Shipley – sort code 08 32 10 – account number 12001020

If you don’t know which account to use, send your payment to Cumbernauld.

In either case be sure to quote your ten digit Unique Tax Reference number followed by the letter “K”. For example: 1234567899K.

DO NOT make a payment without this number as HMRC will not know who to allocate the payment to.

If you don’t know how much tax to pay you can contact your tax advisor or login to your online tax account.

Allow a few days after your latest Tax Return to 5th April 2021 has been submitted/lodged to allow HMRC time to update their records and show the correct figure.

Is your income likely to be lower in the current year ending in April 2022 compared to April 2021?

If you believe that your taxable income will be less than the previous tax year, you may be able to elect to reduce any payments on account for 2021-22.

Normally these are calculated as if your tax due for 2021-22 is going to be the same as 2020-21 and half of this will be due now and the other half by 31 July.

Your tax adviser can do this for you or you could contact HMRC’s helpline for advice on how to proceed.

If you cannot fund your 31 January 2022 tax payment, call HMRC Business Payment Support Service: 0300 200 3835 to organise an agreed repayment schedule. Don’t bury your head and wait for them to come collecting…which they always will!

Generally, you will need to clear any arrears before any further tax liabilities fall due for payment.

Tax Return Services with THP

If you need any help with your Tax Return then please call us immediately to discuss, with offices in Sutton,  Chelmsford, Wanstead, and Saffron Walden. This is a very busy time of year for all Accountants but we’ll always do our very best to help you.