Help - Tax records destroyed

campbel_2

Hi,

Set up as self-employed and filed my first return last year, decided to do this years at the weekend and despite turning the garage upside down cannot find them anywhere. I can only assume that during a clear out in Summer my daughters have thrown them out by mistake. I now have no records at all for last year, which I had filed and information needed to complete 08/09 return.

I had also bought a new laptop in September, since my old one died on me, and have no details on laptop either since my previous one does not even switch on anymore.

Have checked the Inland Revnue website and there is a part for lost or destroyed records, but it says to try and recreate the figures, this would be virtually impossible for me to do - can I use last years return as a basis, or what should I do, feel such an idiot and wish I had never kept them in the garage, but only do so, since so short of storage space. All advice appreciated please.

PlutoinCapricorn

What a terrible thing to happen. The deadline is 31st January 2010 which give you a bit of time. Could you ask people if they remember throwing anything away?

I am sure that it is possible to rescue things from a hard drive.

What about bank statements and utility bills? Could you ask your clients for copies of the invoices that you sent them?

I keep paper files for six years, scanned copies etc on my hard drive forever, and I back up both to DVD and online. I also keep a spreadsheet where I record all self employment income and expenses and have the figures ready to transfer to the retuen. Belts and braces as I believe in "better safe than sorry".

Pennywise

The tax inspector will expect you to reconstruct them as far as you can and then use realistic estimates to fill the gaps.

Using a prior year would only be acceptable if you could prove that the missing year was similar, i.e. if you've been in business for years and there's a proven track record of steady income and expenses which continues to be followed by the current year, i.e. having figures before and after which show similar results would imply the missing year would be similar and you could do an average.

The tax inspector will come up against this a lot and will know what can reasonably be reconstructed. For example, you can get copies of your bank and credit card statements, paid cheques etc from your bank, albeit at a cost to you. You can also get copies of invoices from major/regular suppliers. No doubt you have other records, such as diaries, email records, etc., that may help show what work you were doing etc. A lot depends on what type of business you have. I think you'll end up needing a book-keeper or accountant to piece it all together and work out the best ways of filling the missing information with guess-times.

Once you have reconstructed as best you can, you need to put the estimates on the tax return, tick the box saying what estimates have been used and explain in the "additional information" box how it happened, what you've done to reconstruct and what estimates have still been needed.

tyllwyd

campbel wrote: »

I had also bought a new laptop in September, since my old one died on me, and have no details on laptop either since my previous one does not even switch on anymore.

I agree with PinC above - it might well be possible to rescue information from your old laptop, especially if it is something simple like the power supply that actually failed. I would definitely find someone who could have a look at it for you.