Anybody else panicking about tax return?

[Mediocrewife]

First tax return due tomorrow. I'm self employed and thought it looked pretty straight forward so I did it myself. Have input income, turnover etc and submitted expenses.
Have got a tax pot saved so no problem paying it.
But is that it? I mean all the questions about capital gains tax and losses and previous years etc dont apply to me. Literally my return is an in and out excercise.
My accounts friend says thats fine. But am I being thick?

Well done on getting it done. I felt the same as you when I first started doing them. Worried that I'd missed something out or got the figures wrong somehow felt like it should be more complicated.. But they really are straightforward and the input system super helpful.

Yours sounds very straightforward - don’t fret!

Have you made your tax payment yet? It must be received by tomorrow. You might also need to make a payment on account at the same time towards next year's bill.

Most tax returns only need to include a few of the sections based on the answers you have given.

i fill one out every year for the child benefit charge - and always feel like I’m doing something wrong because it’s so easy…: so always leave it until the last minute! Did it last night, but I swear I’m doing it as soon as I get my p60 next year!

thanks for replies! Totally fretting! My paperwork is all in order and everything claimed I have proof of. I kind of figured that if I did it wrong, they'd be bloody quick to tell me!
Yeah, I know I've to file return and pay tomorrow. I will likely need to pay towards next year too. I should have enough to cover both payments.
Still hesitating!
Cant find the bit where I claim expenses for clothing/equipment so I'll shove it somewhere!!
Of course I have to visit inlaws tomorrow so I'll file it in the evening when I'm home.
Just want to triple check it!!!

I've got investments and I fricking hate doing mine! I don't understand all the questions.

oh yes I did the child benefit bit too! This is exactly it! It was too easy, I just had to have my figures figured out!
Also, I ignored the big words!!

OP, it is usually pretty straightforward so it sounds like you’ve done it just fine.

Can I kindly suggest that you do next years as soon as this tax year ends in April though?

It baffles me why people leave this until the last minute.

Do the return in April so you know how much you’ll have to pay, put the money in a high interest savings account and then pay it next January when it’s due.

Why on earth would you leave it to the very last day?
I genuinely don’t understand. It must be so stressful. Do it before Xmas at the very latest - you can still pay the money in January.

I've had my own business for over ten years and I still find the whole thing absolutely baffling. It's a true mental block. My business partner luckily is very 'number minded' and tells me what to do but I have to ask him every single year. I am good at a lot of things, I appreciate that, but this is not and never will be one of them!

I wouldn't leave it til tomorrow evening op.... there might be some unexpected step that throws you! Or some problem logging in or something!!

To be fair, I had paperwork all organised and intended to do it before christmas.
However my dad died recently and I cared for him before that so understandably it got put on the back burner. Its been a hard year and crap xmas.
I'm not panicking at deadline at all, just that I've done it right.

You asked if anyone else is panicking. Well, no, but I haven't left mine until the last day. I always worry that the system will go down and it won't go through!

You did it by the deadline, that’s all that matters. You can always go back and correct it if you need to. I always over save for my tax so I get a little spending money after I’ve paid it to soften the blow. But I pay it gladly. Well done to those who let the deadline, and it’s not the end of the world if you don’t. It’s costs a bit, you suck it up and you move on (experience lol).

Also you don’t accrue interest on the bill until somewhere in Feb so you can pay a few week later a lose out financially but then return has to be in by 31st.

I’m sorry for the loss of your Dad.

i remember when i did my first SA as a newly self employed, and thinking is that it? That can’t be it? It was so straight forward! I’d been imagining some horrendous long and confusing process that would take days/weeks but actually (for my simple little business at the time) it was easy. The explanations were helpful and i managed fine.

Now my business has grown, I tend to get all my info together in the summer when it’s a bit quieter and file. So I don’t have to think about it in the busy runup to Christmas. I have an alert on my calendar to remind me to go back in and double check and pay in January though. I’d rather the money was in my account until then.

My DH is an accountant and I get so pissed off he only does our tax returns tomorrow. I hate leaving things to the last minute. I wish he would have done it last week.

What?

You literally have 9 months to do it. I’ve grown babies in that time.

Why would you miss the deadline and have to pay a fine?

This is why I don’t employ an accountant 😂

I sort of understand the panic to pay, but you've had months to do the return and when you've done it you can go back weeks later and change it. Do the return asap, then you know exactly how much you have to pay by the 31 January and have plenty of time for any queries.

It’s press send now - there often delays or dite crashes and you’ll be fined for Kate submission

I don't have to do a return but my H (I refuse to use DH) does. I don't trust him with money at all. He doesn't save anything for his tax and then we have to find it out of different pots. It's me that has to find it as he's a useless fuckwit
He also gets the total wrong and it is different when it comes to paying it.

Are you telling me that we could find out in April of the previous year what we owe the next January if he filled it in earlier?

Yep, maybe not in April, because you have to have all the year end interest statements from banks and building societies, some of them can be a bit slow, especially with investments in OEIC's, but you can certainly start the return and a couple of days later see how much tax you owe and when, then if the information you have changes, go back and edit the return to make it recalculate. I did mine at the beginning of August and paid it this week.

Dh is doing his right now, much yelling at the screen, running around looking for statements etc. why didn’t he do it at any point from late April last year when he got his p60!

Not April, that’s probably too early but definitely at the start of October.

Not all accountants are the same! 99% of my clients' tax returns were submitted last Summer. Only a handful of stragglers left it late to send me their information in December/January (always the same ones each year of course!). But then again, I nag my clients from May onwards to give me the information. Far better to start things soon so that missing information/explanations/queries can be dealt with in a timely manner with no last minute panics and then the client knows months in advance about their tax bills and can plan accordingly.