plym77 Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Hi all Some of you will know that I have had my hands a little full for the last few months with relocating to Belfast. I am however now back and ready for your burning questions!! So any queries, please post, making it clear that you have a tax question and I will do my best to help. I wont be going back over the last few months to find queries (as that would take too long to sift!) but if you posted a query and never got the clarification you needed, please repost and I will review. With the deadline of 31st January just a few days away for your 2008 self assessment tax return I thought it would be worth posting a couple of bullet points: regarding your 2008 tax returns - in case you STILL haven't submitted: - The tax return will cover the tax year ended 5 April 2008 (the basis period can be different if you are self-employed as it is based on your year end, unless you are newly self-employed). - The deadline for paper return submissions has passed (31 October 2008) so you must file online to avoid the £100 penalty. Do not send in a paper tax return. - If you have not registered for online submission (and do not have an agent) then you must act quickly as it takes a few days for the relevant submission codes and authorisation to come through. - If you do not yet have a tax reference then there is a fast track service available until the end of January http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/news/utr-fast-track.htm - If for any reason you have not registered for online submission and have run out of time then the best way to avoid the £100 penalty is to pay the correct tax before 31 January 2009. This way, whilst you will have a £100 penalty applied to your account, on submission of your tax return, providing the correct tax was paid by 31 January 2009, then the penalty is mitigated to 'the level of 2008 tax outstanding after 31 January'. Although please be aware that failure to submit your tax return on time will extend the enquiry window of opportunity for HMRC. - Failure to pay your tax by 31 January will result in interest charges being applied to your account - the rate of interest is currently 4.5% but I understand that this is reducing to 3.5% from tomorrow - Failure to pay your 2008 liability by 28 February 2009 will result in a surcharge being applied to your account of 5% of outstanding tax. Hope this helps, I will be popping in here daily until Friday to help out with any last minute queries. Regards Sherena Glanton CTA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Welcome back Sherena! Mel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CH1 Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Welcome back Sherena! I did have questions earlier about the online tax form but I've managed to complete it now. I just did my online tax return today. Though had to submit an amended form this evening when I suddenly saw one of the figures submitted was totally wrong as the software package i was using had calculated one column wrong. I can see this online tax self assessment being quick way to submit but I can also see it a way in which accidental errors could be made either from typos or software calculation errors, guess it always good to do manual paper based calculations always as a back-up. Regarding Savings interest if all income derived from property minus expenses is less than £5225 can one claim interest gross from banks with no tax deducted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plym77 Posted January 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2009 thanks for the welcome back! yes, if your income for the year (on all sources) is less than your personal allowance, then you will be able to claim back the tax paid on the interest, the online calculation should calculate the amount for you. If this is likely year on year, you may want to consider registering your bank interest to be received gross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindavies Posted January 29, 2009 Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Hi all Some of you will know that I have had my hands a little full for the last few months with relocating to Belfast. I am however now back and ready for your burning questions!! So any queries, please post, making it clear that you have a tax question and I will do my best to help. I wont be going back over the last few months to find queries (as that would take too long to sift!) but if you posted a query and never got the clarification you needed, please repost and I will review. With the deadline of 31st January just a few days away for your 2008 self assessment tax return I thought it would be worth posting a couple of bullet points: regarding your 2008 tax returns - in case you STILL haven't submitted: - The tax return will cover the tax year ended 5 April 2008 (the basis period can be different if you are self-employed as it is based on your year end, unless you are newly self-employed). - The deadline for paper return submissions has passed (31 October 2008) so you must file online to avoid the £100 penalty. Do not send in a paper tax return. - If you have not registered for online submission (and do not have an agent) then you must act quickly as it takes a few days for the relevant submission codes and authorisation to come through. - If you do not yet have a tax reference then there is a fast track service available until the end of January http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/news/utr-fast-track.htm - If for any reason you have not registered for online submission and have run out of time then the best way to avoid the £100 penalty is to pay the correct tax before 31 January 2009. This way, whilst you will have a £100 penalty applied to your account, on submission of your tax return, providing the correct tax was paid by 31 January 2009, then the penalty is mitigated to 'the level of 2008 tax outstanding after 31 January'. Although please be aware that failure to submit your tax return on time will extend the enquiry window of opportunity for HMRC. - Failure to pay your tax by 31 January will result in interest charges being applied to your account - the rate of interest is currently 4.5% but I understand that this is reducing to 3.5% from tomorrow - Failure to pay your 2008 liability by 28 February 2009 will result in a surcharge being applied to your account of 5% of outstanding tax. Hope this helps, I will be popping in here daily until Friday to help out with any last minute queries. Regards Sherena Glanton CTA Hi, 2 days ago, (very late in the day),I took the BACS slips for the foreign homestay students I had in 2007-2008 to the accountant, I have just heard that the tax we have to pay is approx £2000. The accountant has only used the £4250 allowance to calculate this. The previous year another accountant calculated our allowance using a proportion of our utility bills etc, she said she had found on a government website an average cost per day for students, and also, I think, allowed the interest on our mortgage, which is an interest only, and was, again I think, therefore all allowed. That year we had two students and there were four family in the house, so she calculated 2/6 of the total for our allowance. In 2007-2008 we had three homestays for nearly all the year, and only my husband and I , so would the allowance be 3/5? I well may be talking total gibberish, tax/accounting has always been like reading cantonese! I would be very grateful for your comments and look forward to your reply Lin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plym77 Posted January 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Hi Lin You new accountant has simply used the rent a room scheme, but you do have two options, the second being to prepare a rental statement and use a proportion of your annual costs (for example light, heat, mortgage interest etc). Both schemes are valid and you should use the best one for you. As far as apportionment of expenses, these is no hard and fast method - just 'true and fair', so whether that is on occupancy, floor space, rooms etc - you and your accountant should discuss the method that gives a fair apportionment. You accountant should know these rules and discuss it with you. I expect that your accountant this time of year (as we all are) has been extremely busy and to turn a tax return around in two days this late in the day will inevitably mean he cant spend as much time considering it. I would suggest that what you do it look at your income and expenses again and if on a fair and reasonable basis, your 'net profit' would be less than the income less the £4250 allowance, then pay over the tax on the adjusted figure and ask your accountant to put in an amendment at the beginning of February for you - but beware - he may have to charge you extra to do this extra work for you. so the tax saving has to be worth it. In future try and get your stuff in earlier. This time of year is so very busy for us, I for example am working up to 15 hour days because clients send in their information so late - and I will not be alone. Plus, if you get your stuff in earlier, you are likely to have more time knowing what your tax bill will be! Hope this helps Regards Sherena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindavies Posted January 29, 2009 Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Hi Lin You new accountant has simply used the rent a room scheme, but you do have two options, the second being to prepare a rental statement and use a proportion of your annual costs (for example light, heat, mortgage interest etc). Both schemes are valid and you should use the best one for you. As far as apportionment of expenses, these is no hard and fast method - just 'true and fair', so whether that is on occupancy, floor space, rooms etc - you and your accountant should discuss the method that gives a fair apportionment. You accountant should know these rules and discuss it with you. I expect that your accountant this time of year (as we all are) has been extremely busy and to turn a tax return around in two days this late in the day will inevitably mean he cant spend as much time considering it. I would suggest that what you do it look at your income and expenses again and if on a fair and reasonable basis, your 'net profit' would be less than the income less the £4250 allowance, then pay over the tax on the adjusted figure and ask your accountant to put in an amendment at the beginning of February for you - but beware - he may have to charge you extra to do this extra work for you. so the tax saving has to be worth it. In future try and get your stuff in earlier. This time of year is so very busy for us, I for example am working up to 15 hour days because clients send in their information so late - and I will not be alone. Plus, if you get your stuff in earlier, you are likely to have more time knowing what your tax bill will be! Hope this helps Regards Sherena Many thanks for your amazingly swift reply. One thing I forgot to ask was is there a daily allowance for food? I seem to remember that the previous accountant found a government ref for something like £3 per day per student. Do you know anything about that? Again, many thanks, Lin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plym77 Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Hi Lin It's not an allowance I have come across, but would say that if you are supplying food to your tenants, the a reasonable deduction would be available. Regards Sherena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindavies Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Many thanks for your amazingly swift reply. One thing I forgot to ask was is there a daily allowance for food? I seem to remember that the previous accountant found a government ref for something like £3 per day per student. Do you know anything about that? Again, many thanks, Lin Many thanks for your help. tax payment has been reduced from £1700 to £230! what a result! Lin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plym77 Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 glad to hear it worked out for you any other queries... you know where I am Sherena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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