I'm I too late to do a tax return? Advise needed please...

ARE007

Not sure this fits in the Cutting tax forum but i can't find anywhere else to put it so here goes..

Basically for the last couple of years I've been running a website which makes money from online adverts using Google Adsense. When I first launched the website about 3 years ago I made around £30 a month but over the last 12-18 months the income has drastically increased to on average around £1,000 a month, although incomes varies each month. The income gets paid by Google straight into my personal bank account.

Now this is where I think it gets complicated....

I graduated from university last summer (2012) and started full time employment in August 2012. I pay tax on my full time salary and I earn around £1,300 a month after tax. My website still earns around £1,000 a month, jumping up to around £1,600 some months.

I'm really confused on what to do next. I constantly hear the threatening adverts on radio and tv and get really confused. I'm not trying to dodge tax and I have nothing to hide.

I assume it's too late to do a tax return? I assume I have to register as self employed aswell before I can do a tax return?

I would like to speak to a professional and pay for their services/advice but at this late stage scared they'll not take me on as a client.

I know I'm really stupid leaving it this late but I really want to get it sorted out.

Any advice or links or recommendations of people to talk to would be great.

Thanks a million

antonic

OK,

The tax year runs from 06/04 till the 05/04/ in the following year.

The current tax year is the 12/13 tax year which started on 06/04/12 and will end on 05/04/13.

You say the website started 3 years ago, is this 3 calendar years or 3 tax years ?.

The income you got from the website, even though you were at Uni, is income and *should* have been declared to HMRC.

There is a Self Assessment return, that is due to be filed and paid by 31st January 2013, for income earned during the 2011/12 tax year.

You can try and register for Self Assessment now to , file your return for the 11/12 tax year, but this can only be online and you *may* not get your access codes to file online in time.

`Fess upto HMRC now what has happened and you *may* not get penalties, if you dont you *may* get caught and fined.

Hope this helps.

ARE007 wrote: »

Not sure this fits in the Cutting tax forum but i can't find anywhere else to put it so here goes..

Basically for the last couple of years I've been running a website which makes money from online adverts using Google Adsense. When I first launched the website about 3 years ago I made around £30 a month but over the last 12-18 months the income has drastically increased to on average around £1,000 a month, although incomes varies each month. The income gets paid by Google straight into my personal bank account.

Now this is where I think it gets complicated....

I graduated from university last summer (2012) and started full time employment in August 2012. I pay tax on my full time salary and I earn around £1,300 a month after tax. My website still earns around £1,000 a month, jumping up to around £1,600 some months.

I'm really confused on what to do next. I constantly hear the threatening adverts on radio and tv and get really confused. I'm not trying to dodge tax and I have nothing to hide.

I assume it's too late to do a tax return? I assume I have to register as self employed aswell before I can do a tax return?

I would like to speak to a professional and pay for their services/advice but at this late stage scared they'll not take me on as a client.

I know I'm really stupid leaving it this late but I really want to get it sorted out.

Any advice or links or recommendations of people to talk to would be great.

Thanks a million

ARE007

antonic wrote: »

OK,

The tax year runs from 06/04 till the 05/04/ in the following year.

The current tax year is the 12/13 tax year which started on 06/04/12 and will end on 05/04/13.

You say the website started 3 years ago, is this 3 calendar years or 3 tax years ?.

The income you got from the website, even though you were at Uni, is income and *should* have been declared to HMRC.

There is a Self Assessment return, that is due to be filed and paid by 31st January 2013, for income earned during the 2011/12 tax year.

You can try and register for Self Assessment now to , file your return for the 11/12 tax year, but this can only be online and you *may* not get your access codes to file online in time.

`Fess upto HMRC now what has happened and you *may* not get penalties, if you dont you *may* get caught and fined.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your help

It's been running for around 3 calendar years (started February, 2010) but I haven't gone over the allowable income before tax and I was a student so I assume I won't get in trouble for that?

It's only really this last 12 months i have been earning taxable money from the website. I started full time work in August 2012.

How do I come clean to HMRC? Are they helpful because I really don't know the first thing about tax and self employment rules and regulations.

Thanks again

System

ARE007 wrote: »

I assume I have to register as self employed aswell before I can do a tax return?

I would like to speak to a professional and pay for their services/advice but at this late stage scared they'll not take me on as a client.

Yes you will have to register as self-employed sooner rather than later. You can do it over the phone - http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/contactus/view.page?record=1JNuf06zzrM

You can also register online - https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/registration/newbusiness/what-to-do-next

Or complete a CWF1 and send it to HMRC - http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?record=ytV91aFVn3U&formId=490

I don't think you would have any difficulty getting a professional to take you on as a client. Ultimately you are the one liable for any penalties not them and at a time when many are choosing to leave their accountants to try to save money the accountants will be glad of your business.

Your first step though is to register for self-assessment to get a UTR (unique taxpayer reference) number sent out to you.

antonic

Try looking here :

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/undeclaredincome/gettingstarted/tax-affairs.htm

amcg100

You only have to file a tax return if the revenue ask you to, so I wouldn't worry about the January 31st deadline.
You should have informed the tax office when you started your enterprise and submitted accounts annually. The dates are not important since it is up to you when your financial year starts and ends.Accounts need to be submitted regardless of whether any income derived is taxable.
I would recommend that you get an accountant to prepare accounts and then submit them to the revenue. Under the circumstances they are unlikely to penalise you other than asking you to pay any tax that is due together with interest. They are usually helpful and fair, so long as you are too.

Nice little earner by the way !!

heretolearn_2

you don't submit accounts to the HMRC, just a self assessment tax return.

Go see and accountant and pay them a few hundred quid to sort it all out. Nice simple job for them, someone happy to pay, they'll be delighted to see you! And you will be the umpteenth person they've seen in this situation, no need to feel awkward.

jamesd

Don't get unduly worried about this. You will not go to prison, or even be prosecuted. All HMRC will do is charge you the tax due, interest on that tax and maybe a penalty that's unlikely to be more than 30-50% of the tax that was due, if they bother to charge a penalty at all. You're just not filing late enough to be a serious concern for them, nor about enough money for it to be a big deal.

If you were to just phone HMRC and tell them the total income for the 2011-12 tax year even before you can get a tax return done that would help because HMRC can use that to calculate the tax due. Be sure you also tell them about your other income, so they don't do a calculation based only on the self-employed part!

Since most of the income was in 2011-12 or 2012-13 (tax return not even due yet), this is just routine and banal stuff for HMRC.

The biggest risk here isn't what HMRC will do to you - almost nothing - but that you might get too scared to fix it soon and then actually get to the point where it's more expensive due to penalties or bigger penalties.

It's good to get an accountant in part because the accountant will do things like asking you about expenses that can be deducted from your income.

John_Pierpoint

Let is be realistic about this.
You only started earning serious taxable money after finishing at uni and getting a proper job in this current tax year.
Your hobby job is self employment on which you should be already paying a weekly tax called National Insurance (class 2) and then after the end of the year next April 5th you will be sent a self employment tax return. This will become overdue on 31st January 2014.

So read this link and get your self registered and pay the overdue National Insurance, then let the system take you under its wing for the rest of your life.

Don't forget to save up for the tax bill and the payments on account in advance that will hit you in January 2014.

I was amused to hear on the news that HMRC is gearing up to take 1,500 tax fiddlers to court per year, you won't be one of them.

The inland Revenue has a much more effective method of torture, if it has serious concern that you have evaded tax - basically it dreams up a ridiculously large amount of tax and then says prove every penny where we got this wrong, and by the way depending on how long ago it is that you have been forgetting this tax we will multiply it up by an ever increasing percentage.
So you play the game, we play the game, your accountant gets rich and your political leaders feel important and needed.

Start here
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/working/intro/class2.htm
this follows:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/working/intro/selfemployed.htm#1