Summer is disappearing and Christmas is fast approaching. While everyone else is planning their end of year party and where they’ll be spending the holidays, the accountants among us have turned our focus to the 31^st January HMRC personal tax deadline. This deadline sets out when we need to get your 2016/17 tax return submitted to HMRC so that you can pay them the amount of tax due for that year.

There are many benefits of getting your records in early, including:

1. We’ll be able to submit your tax return nice and early, which in turn, will mean that you’ll know what your tax bill is way before the deadline; this will help you organise your cash flow to accommodate your payments.
2. If you find that you can’t pay your tax bill as it was higher than you anticipated or you didn’t set aside enough money in preparation, you’ll have time to potentially make alternative payment arrangements with HMRC.
3. You may have the opportunity to implement future tax saving strategies sooner rather than later.
4. You can implement your marketing strategies based on more up to date and relevant accounts information; it’s madness to be basing your marketing decisions on data from over a year ago.
5. Another not too obvious benefit to businesses is that it reduces your to do list. All too often business owners put aside the priority of keeping their records in order for other areas of their business but if you stay on top of it, it will help you manage your workload on top of the other benefits.

We know that some people overthink or panic about getting their records into their accountant and often turn this panic into procrastination, ‘I’ll get that done tomorrow as I don’t really know where to start’; tomorrow never comes and procrastination will not pay your tax bill in January! Make things simple for yourself; stop overthinking it and follow our simple guide to ensure that you get your records to your accountant today.

Here is what your accountant needs:

• Your up to date bookkeeping – If you use cloud bookkeeping you’ll need to give your accountant access to your software. If you complete an Excel spreadsheet you should email this to your accountant. (We can supply you a template).
• Completed accounts and tax checklists – At Hive, we send our clients a checklist to ensure that nothing is missed out and it will save you time in the long run. If you are a client and you would like us to resend you the checklist please let us know.
• End of year statements and information – Bank statements, loan statements, stock figures, debtors and creditors lists, details of assets purchased, payroll monthly reports etc. If you’re unsure of what is required, take a look at this infographic with a list of the things we’ll need.

If you send in your records now you’ll have until 31^st January to make your payment and you’ll be able to anticipate any payments on account towards the 2017/18 year. The longer you leave it the more chance there is you’ll face penalties due to late submission or payments.

If you have any questions or need any help with sending in your records please call 01872 300232 or email us at hello@hivebusiness.co.uk.