Another self assessment year finished on 31 January (final online submission date for the 2016/17 tax year) and HMRC has released its figures.
11,433,349 tax returns were due to be filed by midnight on 31 January and 10,637,761 (93.0%) were filed in time.
There are around 745,588 self assessment tax returns still outstanding and if all have the minimum late filing penalty applied it is worth nearly £75m in revenue to HMRC.
Paper tax returns are becoming a thing of the past with the vast majority (92.8%) filing their tax return online.
If you left your tax return late this year then you are not alone as 44.8% of all tax returns were submitted in January, 12.1% of all tax returns were submitted on either 30 or 31 January and 30,348 left it really late by filing between 11pm and 11.59pm on 31 January (we filed our last tax return at 8.16pm on the 31st January).
Although most people don’t like dealing with things like tax and tax returns and leave it until they need to deal with it, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Using online accounts software such as Xero means you can keep your accounting records up to date easily so you know how you are doing at any point in time. Used with receipt processing apps, such as Receipt Bank and Autoentry, can take the automation to another level leaving you time to either work “on your business” rather than “in your business” or give you the time to spend it doing the things you really enjoy.
You never know, you might get the current tax return filed by the end of April this year which has the added benefit of enabling you to provision for any tax liability well before it is due.
If you would like to learn more about Xero and its add on apps and how it can help you and your business then give us a call on 01259 721156.