Self asessment timings

Richycoo

Hi All

Newbie here!
It may seem a stupid question but heres my situation.....
I became self employed in May 2019. My business is landscaping/property maintenance and as such i tend to be very busy throughout the spring and summer with Christmas and New year being the quietest period. I therefore want to line up the majority of my admin for Dec/Jan so i can be as free as possible in the warmer months.
I appreciate that i do not have to complete a self assessment until Jan 2021 but is it possible or is there any benefit in completing one in Jan 2019? I don't want to waste my time this coming Jan but if i can lessen the work in anyway for the year after i would be keen to do so.....your thoughts??

BoGoF

Your basis period for taxing profits in 19/20 is May 2019 to 5 April 2020.

So basically, no to your suggestion.

Pennywise

You can't do a tax return as your accounting period hasn't even ended.

What you can do is make sure your book-keeping and other admin is fully up to date, any queries/missing invoices dealt with, etc., so that you'll be in a good position to finish it off as soon as the year end passes and you can then get your tax return prepared and submitted with minimum fuss, which is good as you'll know far sooner how much tax and NIC you'll owe next January so can make sure you've saved enough for it.

laticsforlife

But you don't have to wait until Jan 2021, you can do it on 06 April 2020.

I presume you have registered for Self-Assessment, so your return will be issued on that day (I guess these days that means there's a message in your online account to say you need to complete one).