Submitting your tax return can actually be super easy. Don’t believe me, well read on…
Are you the sort of person who leaves everything to the last minute having squashed receipts into a bag or folder over the year and suddenly January has appeared and the realisation has hit that your tax return won’t submit itself and you now have to spend time trying to figure out what is what before filing. I feel the stress building inside me just writing that. Well, its time to change and de-stress.
We hear clients say about how worried they were when they first started out, trying to file their tax return themselves but not really sure if they had filled it in correctly. Then, feeling the relief when hiring an accountant to still find that actually their paperwork was still in a mess, taking days to sort out just so it was workable. Whilst accountants can do the legwork, we unfortunately still need the information to be able to compile the tax return.
How can you change this? Read on for our tips to a stress free easy as pie tax return submission.
Yes thats right! It’s simple. As the year end closes this is the time to put to one side a day or two to get your paperwork in order. Last year an amazing 600,000 people submitted their tax return on the actual deadline date. The system had slowed down just adding to that unnecessary stress. You also don’t want to be risking that £100 fine for late submission.
So, the earlier you get it sorted the better. Make it a priority and book yourself a day to get it sorted. Another benefit to getting it sorted out early, you will know exactly what you owe HMRC well in advance, so you will have plenty of time to put that tax money to one side ready for payment.
The best way to get organised is to make sure you have all your paperwork to hand. These would include:
You have some options for how you could organise this. Either digitally through creating a folder for your tax return on your computer with subfolders for all relevant information or using online software where you can upload everything in one place. Another option would be to print everything off and organise it into a folder ready to hand over to your accountant, but this can be time consuming and you have the added printing costs.
To get even more organised, you could create a system where month by month throughout the year you organise your documents. Taking this time each month means you won’t need to spend a chunk of time organising everything at the end of the tax year.
Taking all of that into consideration, our number one recommendation would be to invest in using online software. Considering Making Tax Digital comes into effect in 2026, it would be a good idea to get ahead by using online software such as Xero. This then allows you to link bank accounts, send invoices and upload receipts. Therefore, everything will then be available for your accountant saving you the time and stress of getting everything together ready to send over to them.
Unless you’re a registered bookkeeper or accountant yourself, I highly recommend paying someone else to prepare your tax return for you.
Of course, you can do it yourself, but in my experience, I’ve found that time is usually better spent making money in your own business. Along with that, you don’t need to worry if you got it right or not. If you took into account the cost in hours it would take you to sort your tax return out then its usually well worth outsourcing this. Another benefit to outsourcing to a professional accountant is that they will have a good understanding of all the current allowances available to you and could therefore actually save you money.
If you need more convincing, calculate what your hourly rate of pay is in your business, and how many hours on average it would take you to prepare your tax return. If it’s higher than (or close to) the cost of getting someone else to do it – outsource it! You’ll be doing yourself a huge favour.
I hope these few simple tips will help reduce the stress related to tax return submissions. If you need any more advice or information please contact us here.