Do You Want A Stress Free Self-Assessment? Follow These 5 Tips
HMRC’s Self-Assessment should be taken lightly. Do not wait until the last minute to file your personal tax return because if you failed to pay on time, there will be corresponding penalties. It will incur a lot of time and effort to appeal the penalty, with having no guarantee that it will be granted.
Therefore, the easiest way to prevent this situation is to pay on time. We prepared five tips for you to follow in order to have a stress-free self-assessment.
1. Register your company
This is the first step you should do before anything else. Make sure you are registered because you won’t be able to submit your tax return unless you are able to register with HMRC. Also, make sure to secure a login for the Government Gateway so that you can submit your tax return online. Make sure you also have your Unique Tax Reference (UTR) which will be on your self-assessment paperwork from HMRC.
2. Complete all your documents
Before heading to the HMRC, make sure you are ready with your documents on hand. This is to ensure a fast transaction. You should have all of your personal and business income and expenditure, including all the invoices, dividend vouchers, bank statements, and receipts.
3. Double check everything.
To avoid getting stressed during the self-assessment, it is recommended to create a checklist of your needed documents and thoroughly check every part of your self-assessment before you hit the submit button. Simple mistakes can result in the rejection of your documents and HMRC might impose a penalty because of this. That is why you have to be careful that all aspects are checked and verified.
4. Learn from your mistakes
Do not let yourself make the same mistake twice. Be organised – learn how to keep your financial records up to date to avoid having the same headaches next year. You need to file all your bank statements, bills and important forms in a file so that you can locate them easily. It may sound time-consuming at first, but it pays off in the future.
5. Save yourself from the stress. Hire a bookkeeper
If you think that bookkeeping is not your thing, then it is time to hire a bookkeeper. Having one saves you the time of keeping up with all the invoices which make you stressed. Allow your bookkeeper to handle the job because they have enough experience with these kinds of task. If you want to hire a bookkeeper, just visit Eclat Accountancy Ltd to know more about their services.