Sole trader tax

Jeremy535897

You haven't said when you started your self employment. The deadline for registering as self employed is by 5 October after the end of the tax year (to 5 April) in which you started. If you commenced your self employment earlier than 6 April 2020, you have already missed the deadline to register as self employed. If you did not, register today. You don't have to wait until next 5 October to register.

Assuming you should have filed a self assessment tax return for 2019/20 (and perhaps earlier years) and did not, then you are accruing penalties for this (as well as for failing to register as self employed), as well as interest if you have underpaid tax. That is why I said you should seek professional advice urgently to get things sorted out.

[Deleted User]

Kaster_2 said:

Jeremy535897 said:

Kaster_2 said:

Jeremy535897 said:

Time limit for 2020/21 is 31 January 2022. Registering as self employed is unlikely to trigger HMRC into looking at the past few years.

Thanks Jeremy. But it makes sense to account for every year and not just 20/21 when I declare doesn’t it? As they could easily ask where the intervening years have been.

Yes, I forgot you originally said you are behind by "a few years". You would be well advised to seek professional advice on how to go about things. The deadline of 5 October will have already passed as it was 5 October after the end of the tax year in which you started (so if you started in the year to 5 April 2019, the deadline was 5 October 2019).

Thanks. So there’s no value in registering for sole trader status today for 21/22 accounts? If I’m submitting a number of years together an account will be able advise on how to navigate things? Just thinking that if I don’t register today then I’d have to wait until next October to register for it.

I believe that you are missing the main point in that you are already late for registering as self-employed. It really doesn’t matter when you file the accounts from that perspective as you are already in a penalty situation. As Jeremy says, engage an accountant and have everything submitted as soon as possible. An accountant will be better place to negotiate with HMRC on your behalf - you really can’t delay on this any longer.

Kaster_2

Thanks both. Working and trying to catch up will take a few weeks, so I’m aiming to have my figures in place by end October and to speak with an accountant in November.