Planning for your self assessment tax bill

The UK tax year is 6 April to the following 5 April. So the tax year 2009/10 ends on 5 April 2010.

You will need to complete a self assessment tax return if you are self employed or a limited company director.

Click here to read our free guide on starting a business and registering with HMRC (opens in a new window).

Although the deadline is 31 January for e-filed returns, we recommend that you complete your tax return and submit it to HMRC as early as possible. Click here to download a useful pdf tax return checklist.

A self employed person will pay both income tax and class 4 national insurance (NI) on their profits plus income tax on any other income and capital gains tax on any relevant capital gains in the tax year.
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How to register your new PAYE scheme

This article and video gives easy to follow, step by step instructions on registering a new PAYE scheme with HMRC.

A new scheme can be registered either online at www.hmrc.gov.uk , by telephone ( 0845 60 70 143) or in writing.

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Tax deductible expenses

There is a great deal of confusion as to what you can and what you can’t deduct from your profit for tax purposes.

This tip gives a brief list of the types of expenditure you can claim, some of which you may already be deducting, some may be new to you and applicable to your business.

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Cut red tape … get a P11d dispensation

For those of you who are one-person limited companies and/or have employees, you may be aware that reimbursements of expenses (excluding mileage within approved rates) should be reported to the Inland Revenue on P9d or P11d and included within the claimant’s tax return. This can add quite a burden onto the company’s administration and also incur fines if returns are not completed correctly or submitted late.

However, there is an easy way to reduce this administrative burden – apply for an expense dispensation.

Depending upon the type of business, various business expenditure can be included within the dispensation and may remove the need to complete p9d/p11d for some employees (car, fuel, health insurance etc benefits must still be reported).
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