Act Now to File Your UK Tax Return by 31 January

If you have UK source income, you may be obliged to file a UK Self Assessment tax return. 31 January is the deadline for filing your 2011/12 return online. This covers the year ended 5 April 2012.

If you are liable to file a return, and haven’t done so, you will need to act now in order to meet the deadline. If you miss it, you will face an automatic £100 penalty – even if you have no UK tax liability.

Fail to file within a further 3 months (i.e., by 30 April) and you will be hit with an extra £10 per day; after six months, a further £300 (or 5% of your tax liability, if higher), and worse penalties still if you file even later.

If you think you may be liable to file a UK return, first check the criteria set out on the HMRC website.

In short, you will need to file a return if:

• you had self-employment income in the UK (including Northern Ireland) in the year ended 5 April 2012.
• you are a director of a UK company.
• you have income from savings, investments or property in the UK.
• you need to claim expenses or reliefs against UK PAYE income.
• you sold UK property or assets in the year ended 5 April 2012 and have a UK Capital Gains Tax liability.

If you are liable, you will need to act swiftly in order to meet the deadline. This is especially so, if this is your first time to to register for UK income tax.  As a first-time HMRC filer, you will first need to obtain a 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR number)  from HMRC Online Services.

HMRC Online Services advise that you must register with them by today (21 January) in order to receive your UTR number ahead of the 31 January deadline.

If you would like us to file your UK return before the deadline, don’t delay, call us now.