For many people their employment status will be clear, they will either be self-employed or an employee. However, for some people the distinction between employment and self-employment is muddy, along with your tax obligations.

Some businesses who employ contractors and freelancers may treat those they hire as self employed rather than as an employee in order to avoid operating Pay As You Earn (PAYE), which costs them more money. If HMRC become aware that this is the case, they will go after both the employer and employee for the missing tax payments due, and are increasingly adding pressure to businesses to operate fully with employment law, with IR35 regulations being introduced to the private sector from April 2020.

I am a Limited Company owner and I charge rent to my limited company for a property that I own personally, can I claim Property Allowance on my Self-Assessment Tax Return?

The Property Allowance was first introduced in 2017, set at £1,000 a year of tax-free allowance to property owners and landlords.

The idea is that if you have an annual gross rental income of £1,000 or more, you may be able to apply for the Property Allowance tax relief, instead of claiming as an expense, via your Self-Assessment Tax Return.

The Self-Assessment tax return deadline is looming close for those self-employed income required to declare their income for tax purposes by 31 January.

If you earn self-employed income whilst also earning through Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) or employment, you may think you are already paying your taxes through your tax code automatically, but that is not the case.

If you are a small business owner and a director of a limited company, the chances are that you need to complete a Self Assessment tax return (“tax return”) every year. The deadline to complete your tax return online is 31st January every year to HMRC and 31 October if you submit via paper copy.

This doesn’t leave you much time if you have not already organised and gathered the necessary financial data and documentation to complete your tax return for 2018/19 tax year, which is due in January.

Act now to avoid unnecessary penalties for late submission. Southside Accounting are Self-Assessment Tax Return accountants and offer a competitive fee to help small business owners comply with their tax filing obligations. Contact us to see how we can help.

HMRC’s next focus is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and Corporation Tax, with a start date as early as April 2020.

To improve the efficiency of the tax system, HMRC want to go paperless. Making Tax Digital involves keeping digital records and using Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliant software to complete tax returns. Eventually, keeping paper records will no longer be allowed, with all tax submissions taking place online.