If you are among the nine million people in the UK who received a self assessment return for 2004/05, PricewaterhouseCoopers recommends that you complete it before 30th September 2005 and offers some tips to save time.
Those returns received by HM Revenue & Customs by 30th September 2005 will have the tax calculated by HMRC and, if under £2,000, collected through your tax code.
Simon Rees, tax senior manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: "By being organised now you can save yourself time and energy in January, when you will have to complete your self assessment in full and work out yourself how much you owe."
Around 1.5 million people have received a new four-page short return. This has to be submitted by 30th September otherwise tax payers face the prospect of filling in the larger 12 page form.
PwC offers these tips:
- If it's a paper return, check you've got all the correct pages;
- Get together all the paperwork you will need, such as your payslips, P45, P60, P11D, or your business accounts if you're self employed;
- Make sure interest and dividend amounts add up, i.e. cash + tax = gross;
- Don't try and enter ISAs, PEPs or ordinary pension contributions to an employer's scheme;
- Do enter pensions received (including state pension) and personal pension contributions;
- Don't use pence – round pounds will do; and
- Sign and send your completed form in by 30th September 2005, keeping a photocopy.
If you don't make the 30th September deadline, all is not lost:
- You can file online up to 30th December and still qualify for an HMRC-calculated tax bill and coding out of a modest balance; and
- The final deadline is 31st January – penalties will only apply after this date.
If you haven't received a self assessment tax return but your circumstances have changed so that you now receive income not taxed at source, such as rental income, you should contact your local tax office by 5th October to request a return.
