Top 5 Self Assessment Tax Return Mistakes Which You Should Avoid

Numbers are scary. A mere mistake in digit placement can make a huge difference. An additional zero in a number increases the value. It leads to disaster as well. In the case of tax filing, it can lead to tax penalties.

Sometimes, unintentionally, you make a mistake while filing your self-assessment tax return. There are chances you might miss some entry or put one entry multiple times. These simple, avoidable mistakes on your tax return are the leading cause of delays in calculating the amount a person owes.

Here are the top 5 mistakes that you must avoid while filing a self-assessment tax return:

  1. Not Including All Income/Capital Gains

You might have to face some serious consequences for missing relevant income and capital gains. Deliberately omitting a source of income can potentially land you behind the bars.

Here are some income and gains that you shouldn’t miss from declaring in your self-assessment tax return:

  • Income from job
  • Additional benefits including paternity/maternity pay, sick pay, job seekers allowance
  • Pension
  • Any kind of income or dividend from saving bank accounts, investment, trust or building societies.
  • Rent from property
  • Foreign income. It must include evidence of tax that has been paid abroad.
  • Capital gains
  • Employee share scheme
  • Dividends
  1. Claiming Un-claimable Expenses

The government has made the information available that what will and what will not be considered as expense. Putting any un-claimable expense can cost you heavy penalties. In case you are in doubt, consult your accountant. Sometimes what you think can be claimed, can’t.

  1. Not Enclosing Supplementary Pages

For any kind of additional income that is not covered by the main tax return, you will be required to include supplementary pages. Relevant additional information includes

  • Income from property
  • A taxable lump sum from the overseas pension scheme
  • Post cessation receipts
  • Life insurance gains
  • Income from a share scheme
  • Certain employment deductions
  • Loss relief claims
  • A claim to age-related married couple’s allowance
  • Interest from gilt-edged and other UK securities
  • Deeply discounted securities
  • Accrued income profits.
  1. Wrongly Ticked Boxes

You will be under the HMRC radar if you have had incorrect boxes ticked or not ticked when they should have been. You can land in serious trouble as ticking the wrong boxes can open an enquiry against you. Little that you know the body will hold you accountable for inaccurate information and will charge you a heavy penalty.

  1. Missing The Deadline

This might have come at the last, but it should be your priority. Never miss your deadline. It can save you a lot of money as you no longer would be liable to pay penalties. It looks simple to remember, but half of the tax delays happen because the payee forgets about the deadline.

These are the top 5 mistakes that you must avoid while filing a self-assessment tax return.

Common reasons why you should use company formation agents for your company?

The company doesn’t get started in one day. It takes days of struggle and paperwork. One has to go through several legal procedures and formalities to open a company of their dream. A budding businessman always feels overwhelmed by the paperwork as the process to start one’s own company is tedious and time-consuming. It becomes simpler and easier when you have a support of a professional individual who is aware of all the procedures.
If you are wondering who to contact n such a situation, then a company formation agent is your answer.

Here is why you must consider having a company formation agent for your company:

1.Saves Your Time

Someone who has prior valuable experience of company formation knows how to handle the process efficiently. An agent saves a lot of your time which otherwise would have been wasted in running here and there, getting the papers right. Time is precious for someone who is starting his entrepreneurial journey. Hiring a company formation agent will allow you to focus on other important aspects like set-up, hiring etc.

2.Saves Your Money

An established and experienced company formation agent will provide you with a series of company formation packages. You can choose the one that suits your need and budget.

3.A Company Formation Company Has a Simple Online Application

You must be already aware of the fact that applying for company registration is a long process. It includes several procedures and formalities. One has to fill our companies House form INO1. It is a pretty lengthy and time-consuming form that contains jargon that you might not even be familiar with. A company formation agent is specialized in this field. They are aware of every term related to company formation. So when you hire an agent, all you have to do is fill out a simple form. Rest is handled by him.

4.Efficient To Handle Any Type of Business Set-up

A company formation agent offers diverse packages that allow a number of online registrations including:

  • Charity company
  • Company limited by guarantee
  • Limited liability partnership
  • A private company with multiple share classes
  • Company with altered or bespoke articles
  • Right to manage the company

5.Protect Your Application

Companies house reject the forms that have any kind of errors. An agent ensures your application form doesn’t have any grammatical errors, irregularities, missing information, and other forms of the hindrance. Your agent ensures your application has none of these. The formation team reviews your pre-submission information. Your agent finalises your application on Companies House form IN01 and submits the form to the registrar for approval.

Why are specialist accountants required for eCommerce businesses?

Why do sales of an eCommerce business keep rising yet profits don’t spike at the rate they should? Or, why is it that the company is being levied by taxes that strip down the glory of the sales? All of this could be the cause of flawed accountancy or a complete absence of it. So, why does an eCommerce business require a professional accountant? Follow up, and you will get to know.

The accountants in an eCommerce business are indispensable in the chain of growth, which connects development with profits. Implementing required systems in place and improvising the way the business finance runs, the eCommerce accountants serve an integral role in the success of any business online. There are various reasons as to why an eCommerce business holder prefers accountants; some of them can be listed as follows:

They have the upper hand in leveraging technology

The Accountants For Ecommerce Business are well-adapt to the specialized software and ensure the smooth running of the business by using it at its maximum potential. By effectively driving accounting software, they can track down the firm’s growth in the market, handle bulk payments using recursive setups, and oversee the actual flow of expenses in real-time. Technology is the greatest ally to any eCommerce business, but for those who are technologically advanced. Understanding the environment of eCommerce and then feeding appropriate data to technology, an eCommerce accountant can make the maximum profit for the business.

They are informed of what drives an eCommerce ahead

Appropriate knowledge of how an eCommerce firm runs is essential to move it forward. An eCommerce accountant understands the supply chain, knows the exact amount of monetary funds you must hold in your hand, and the correct number of stocks to be kept to yourself. Reading the changing economic trends of the market and analyzing them well to develop an escape from bankruptcies and avoid any market falls before they occur is the primary job of an eCommerce accountant. Digital marketing needs to be kept an eye upon in the eCommerce business, the number of monetary funds spent to drive it, and if it is fruitful to the firm in quantifiable terms. All such things can be monitored only by someone as intelligent and informed as an eCommerce accountant.

They implement effective strategies based on market outcomes

the market is too erratic. When an eCommerce is just beginning its run in the business world, it needs to avoid pitfalls. An informed accountant for an eCommerce business can implement systems to drive the business forward irrespective of the market outcomes. However, the strategies come with their risks, and often in avoiding specific loss, a more significant one can be incurred. Thus appropriate risk management systems are also kept in store by eCommerce accountants.

Summing up, the profit a business makes in its run is driven by the sales but speeded up by an eCommerce accountant.

Why do eCommerce Clients integrate their online businesses with accounting softwares?

With an expanding interest of customers in the more accessible and more straightforward mode of purchase, the eCommerce business’s growth is only expected to spike in the coming years. Owing to the smooth running of retail business online, offline establishments such as malls and shops have had a severe decline in sales.

Consequently, it urged the eCommerce businesses not to let the flame go off. They expanded their interactions with the help of accounting software, which cut down a considerable portion of time spent in data sets and data interpretations using stale tiresome methods.

The benefits that accounting software bestows on eCommerce businesses are listed straightforwardly in the following points.

Generating Reports

For any owner of an eCommerce business, the generation of accurate reports is quintessential to ensure proper growth and a proper advancement of industry in the market. With leveraging accounting software’s trait of analyzing business and finance trends and printing accurate data, one can quickly get over the hurdles of doing all of it manually over spreadsheets and spend hours analyzing it.

Complying with Taxes

The accounting software that has recently erupted in use by eCommerce companies has a base code to stick to your taxes. Given the multitude of taxes that a business has to account for, keeping track of all of them is beyond mental capabilities. Accounting software ensures that an errorless calculation of all taxes to be levied on a product is generated. With an in-built system to generate tax summary, it gives one a detailed report of taxes.

Managing Inventory

Inventory management is an indispensable aspect to ensure ample supply and organized distribution. For eCommerce companies, the off-site inventories can be kept on track for all products by accounting software that keeps track of Stock Keeping Unit codes, creates bundles, and records shipments’ movement by their batch number. The software erases every possibility of error and assures the business of a regulated supply without any glitch in activities.

Tracking Expenses

Accounting software keeps eCommerce companies well updated with where their expenses are being pushed to; it is an effective way to keep absolute track of your cash. Eliminating the use of paper receipts, the software helps businesses keep the information intact to avoid losing it on account of human errors.

Billing and Invoicing

Perhaps the most essential part of any business is keeping track of the cash inflow and outflow; however, increasing sales, maintaining the records on paper becomes tiring and susceptible to unerringly human mistakes. Accounting software can help eCommerce businesses to track payments. With such software, one can build repetitive profiles for regular customers and automatically generate invoices for them every time a similar order is placed. The pending payments are also reminded by accounting software, and valid emails are sent to that client.