Do I need to do a tax return by 31st of Jan

FCRangers

I have a main job, and I do some freelance web development which started on the 3rd May 2011.

I rang the Tax office and I set myself as self employed and was told I would need to do a tax return.

I keep hearing on the radio about self assessment by the 31st of Jan 2011!! My friend says I've not worked a year a tax year so will pay 2011 tax in/ by Jan 2012.

I can't get through on the phone, so thought I'd ask you guys.

Thanks

Jarndyce

No - you will need to do one by January 2013 to cover the tax year which ends in April 2012.

Notmyrealname

As above. It seems confusing and worrying in the first year of S/A when you don't get a self assessment form however you have to remember the bill is sent in arrears, i.e you're billed for the previous year so any S/A forms due by end of this month are for the financial year 6/4/2010-5/4/2011. You started after that.

One thing to be aware of is your first bill will have what is due for this tax year plus 50% "on account". So if your tax bill is £1000 for this year, you'll have to pay £1500 by 31st Jan 2013 and then another £500 by 31st July 2013. That is then taken off the bill you get in 2014 (or refunded as required) and from then on you only pay what the bill is, not any on account.

Remember to claim for every single thing you can as a tax deductible expense. When you send a letter to a client you claim the stamp, the envelope, the paper it was written on and even 2p per mile if you walk to the post box to post it.

dizzyrascal

Thanks for this. I have done some freelance work this year and I was wondering what happened with the SA tax. I was sent a demand for NI contributions as soon as I registered with the tax office so I had thought the paperwork for tax would follow.

Notmyrealname

Also unless your turnover is above £70k a year, you only need to fill in a few pages of the form and the bit for the self employment will consist of three boxes other than the business name/address - income, expenses, profit/loss. There will be no need to do detailed expenses.

FCRangers

Notmyrealname wrote: »

As above. It seems confusing and worrying in the first year of S/A when you don't get a self assessment form however you have to remember the bill is sent in arrears, i.e you're billed for the previous year so any S/A forms due by end of this month are for the financial year 6/4/2010-5/4/2011. You started after that.

One thing to be aware of is your first bill will have what is due for this tax year plus 50% "on account". So if your tax bill is £1000 for this year, you'll have to pay £1500 by 31st Jan 2013 and then another £500 by 31st July 2013. That is then taken off the bill you get in 2014 (or refunded as required) and from then on you only pay what the bill is, not any on account.

Remember to claim for every single thing you can as a tax deductible expense. When you send a letter to a client you claim the stamp, the envelope, the paper it was written on and even 2p per mile if you walk to the post box to post it.

Cheers for this information. Yeah I do drive about once a month to the office which is about 30mile trip. I also had to buy a new laptop as my old ones screen went. Can some of the tax on this be claimed? Also how about stuff like Mobiles, I'm always one it to my freelance clients.

Also I registered as not to pay second rate NI as I didn't think i'd hit the limit think it's about £5300ish. I've currently invoice about 4.5k, how much is second rate NI?

Notmyrealname

You can claim for 100% of the laptop but then when you sell it you have to put what you get as income. Things like phones you can claim the entire cost if used solely for the business or the percentage which is business use if used for business and personal. Mileage is best claimed at HMRC rates than claiming for a percentage cost of the use of the car.

Class 2 NIC is £2.50 a week now billed every 6 months.