How to stay ahead of the Personal Tax Deadline

As accountants, we work hard to ensure our clients are looked after without stress or worry about upcoming deadlines for their tax. As many accountants were working late into the night for clients who were rushing to send expenses to them at the end of last year, we have already started to ensure our clients are using technologies that assist them in no longer needing to stop their lives for weeks to find their expenses, receipts, and bank statements.

As a company, we believe in a proactive approach to all things accounting, but understand that your life is busy, that’s why we have a team of supportive people behind us working hard to get documents and expenses to us well ahead of the deadline!How can you, as an individual or business owner, ensure you don’t fret about the deadline that is only 4 months away?Yes, you may think as accountants we will be the only ones thinking that filing a return in October is our holy grail, but imagine how fantastic it is when you know the exact sum you need to pay to HMRC with enough months to prepare financially, should the bill be higher than you may have expected.

This is why I propose to you to have a proactive approach to your returns - to plan in advance and get your files to your accountant or together for yourself in advance of the deadline.What can you do to make the preparations for an early filing for personal tax returns?I wanted to share a few tips to help you get yourself into a rhythm for your early filing future, so here are the tips we share with our clients, that help them to get their documents and tax return submissions ready in advance!

• Upload your receipts and expenses to a system that can automatically track them for you and your accountant. Here we use a fantastic system called 1Tap by ReceiptBank, this enables our clients to simply take a picture of a receipt and send it to their dedicated account, as well as upload PDFs of their invoices, and expenses. Thanks to this system, they no longer have to keep all of their paper receipts and send them to us a month prior to the deadline, causing them stress (and us extra legwork - and ultimately saves them money). Using a system such as 1Tap will help to keep your accounts up to date and reduce the stress you can often have with trying to figure out all of your outgoings and income.
• Keep your accountant updated with any new investments and income opportunities. If you have invested in a rental property, or sold an asset, informing your accountant of these changes will help them to let you know of the ways in which you can claim these expenses, and any new documents they may require. No matter how small the investment - such as a new laptop, new technology for your team, or even new stationary - let them know, as they will know the exact ways in which you can expense your outgoings.
• Automate your systems as much as possible. We love using technology, and that’s why using systems like Xero enables us to help our clients to keep all of their income automatically monitored. This not only helps us with their returns, but it also helps our clients to know exactly what is coming into their business, without any worries at the end of the month or quarter.

Whether you’re a sole trader, self-employed, or a director of a limited company, you can use these tools and tips to help make your tax return less of a headache. With proactive accountants that support you throughout your year, and share new fantastic technologies that will continue to save you time, is a surefire way of making your tax return less of a surprise, and stress at the beginning of a new year.