Should you be completing a tax return?

15 January 2018

With the 31 January Self Assessment deadline approaching, HMRC’s tax agent blog has rounded up the most popular questions and answers to help those of you who are new to self assessment or those of you who are unsure if you should be completing a tax return.

The key question addressed is, do I need to fill in a tax return?

You usually won’t need to send a return if your only income is from your wages or pension. You will need to send a tax return if any of the following apply, in the last tax year:

• You were self-employed - you can deduct allowable expenses
• You got £2,500 or more in untaxed income, for example from tips or renting out a property - contact the helpline if it was less than £2,500
• Your income from savings or investments was £10,000 or more before tax
• Your income from dividends from shares was £10,000 or more before tax
• You made profits from selling things like shares, a second home or other chargeable assets and need to pay Capital Gains Tax
• You were a company director - unless it was for a non-profit organisation (such as a charity) and you didn’t get any pay or benefits, like a company car
• Your income (or your partner’s) was over £50,000 and one of you claimed Child Benefit
• You had income from abroad that you needed to pay tax on
• You lived abroad and had a UK income
• Your taxable income was over £100,000
• You were a trustee of a trust or registered pension scheme
• You had a P800 from HMRC saying you didn’t pay enough tax last year - and you didn’t pay what you owe through your tax code or with a voluntary payment
• Your State Pension was more than your Personal Allowance and was your only source of income - unless you started getting your pension on or after 6 April 2016

Remember that from 13 January, HMRC will no longer be accepting credit card payments as new rules mean HMRC can no longer pass on the fee its bank charges for processing a personal credit card payment. There are still plenty of other ways to pay.

Other questions answered in the blog are:

• How do I know how much tax I owe?
• How do I register to send my return online?
• I’ve lost my User ID and password, what do I do?
• When does my 2016/17 return need to be completed?
• I literally have no idea what I’m doing! Help!?

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