What is a tax return?
You can do tax returns online, or you can download and print a copy of the form to fill in and send to HM Revenue and Customs by post. It is used to record your taxable income for the financial year, HMRC then calculates how much tax you owe them. HM Revenue and Customs tax forms can be daunting, as any little mistake can leave you severely out of pocket, or any incorrect information, even if it’s supplied by accident, can lead to penalties.
To avoid the penalties, it goes without saying that you file your tax return before the deadline. You can appeal if you receive a late penalty fine and in many cases, HMRC has cancelled late penalties if a justifiable reason has been given.
When are UK tax returns due?
Your self-assessment HMRC tax return is due:
• Self-employed/Sole Trader – 5th October
• Paper tax returns – Midnight 31st October
• Online tax returns – Midnight 31st January
• Pay the tax you owe -Midnight 31st January
If you are employed in full, part-time, or temporary work, your tax and national insurance will be taken by your employer using your BR tax code. If you are self-employed, you must register for self-assessment from the day you start trading. The deadline to submit your tax returns is October 5th, if you miss the deadline it could result in penalties based on potential lost tax.
Do I need to do a tax return?
It is not just the self-employed that have to submit a tax return. Reasons why you may need to do a tax return:
• Are you a landlord that has rental income?
• Have you earned more than £100,000 this financial year?
• Are you a company director?
• You earn over £50,000 and get child benefits?
• Have you received more than £10,000 in investment income?
You can submit your tax return any time after the end of the financial tax year, as long as you have filed it by January 31st the previous year. It is advised that you get it done sooner rather than later. One of the benefits of you doing this is you will know earlier how much you owe, giving you more time to plan your payment. Another advantage of submitting it a little earlier is there can be quite a crush as others rush to get theirs in before the deadline.
What Can I Claim Tax Back On?
You can claim tax back on most work-related expenses. Below is a list of items that you can request a tax rebate on:
• Vehicles for work use
• Fuel/Mileage costs
• Travel expenses
• Overnight expenses (food in certain circumstances)
• Rail Tickets (single & season tickets)
• Uniforms, work clothing, and tools
• Cleaning costs for uniforms
• Professional fees, subscriptions & unions fees
This list is an example of what you could claim back; there may be expenses & items specific to the job role that you could claim back.
What are the Deadlines?
- Current legislation in the UK says you can go back up to four Tax years when claiming a Tax rebate. This means at the current moment in time you can make a claim for the following periods:
- Year ended 5th April 2021
- Year ended 5th April 2022
- Year ended 5th April 2023
- Year ended 5th April 2024
Effectively this means you can claim Tax relief from 6th April 2020.
Over such a long period of time wage slips and p60s can be lost or misplaced. This isn’t a problem as you have lots of ways to obtain this information.
- Contact your current/previous employers as they are legally obliged to keep your records going back 6 years and because of GDPR if your request that information they have to provide it to you.
- You could log into your government gateway which is easy to set up if you have never done this.
- Contact HMRC on 0300 200 3300 and request that they post out to you a tax history letter which usually arrives in 10 working days from when you request it from them and this tax history letter will go back 4 years.
Am I Due Any Tax Back?
Most workers, whether employed or self-employed may be due a tax rebate for work-related items, expenses or because they have paid too much tax. HMRC do not know everyone’s individual circumstances, and it is up to the taxpayer to contact HMRC to see if they are entitled to any tax relief.
Other reasons for a tax refund may include pension payments, redundancy payments, interest from a savings account, PPI, or UK income if you are living aboard.
All claims for tax refunds and rebates are reviewed on a case by case basis. Use our tax claim form and answer a few simple questions to see if you could be entitled to make a claim.
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