Subscribe to DavenportsNews FeedSubscribe to DavenportsComments

Browse > Home / Accountancy / Taxation / Personal Tax

Personal Tax


If you pay tax on your earnings or pensions through PAYE (Pay As You Earn) your employer or pension provider deducts tax on HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) behalf and you won’t usually need to complete a tax return. In these cases HMRC will normally also ask them to use the PAYE system to deduct any tax you may owe on a State Pension or other taxable income (eg investment or rental income) up to a certain level.

But if you have more complicated tax affairs, you may need to complete a tax return. There are also certain circumstances in which you will always need to complete a tax return - eg if you’re self-employed, a company director or a trustee, or if you have foreign income.

Do I need to complete a tax return?

  • self-employed people (including members of a partnership)
  • company directors (except not-for-profit organisations)
  • ministers of religion (any faith)
  • people who get rent or income from land and property in the UK (but if you are an employee and this income is less than £2,500 a year a tax return may not be necessary)
  • people who have other untaxed income and the tax due on it cannot be collected though a PAYE (Pay As Your Earn) tax code
  • people with taxable foreign income, even if they are not normally resident in the UK (this includes non-resident landlords)
  • anyone who receives annually (or can be treated as receiving) income from a trust or settlement, or any income from the estate of a deceased person, and further tax is due on that income
    trustees and personal representatives (including people who manage the tax affairs of deceased persons)
  • trustees of certain pension schemes
  • names or members of Lloyd’s
  • employees and pensioners with more complex tax affairs

Remember, if you have any income that is not taxed at source, such as rents or freelance earnings, you may need to complete a tax return.

Employees and pensioners with complex tax affairs

You need to fill in a tax return if you:

  • have an annual income of £100,000 or more
  • have annual income from savings or investments of £10,000 or more (before tax)
  • claim against tax for expenses or professional subscriptions of £2,500 or more
  • have untaxed income of £2,500 or more (although some pensioners may be able to pay the tax on this through their PAYE tax code)
  • owe tax at the end of the year that cannot be collected through a change to your PAYE tax code for the following year

If you are 65 or over, HM Revenue & Customs may ask you to fill in a tax return so that they can work out how much higher Personal Allowance or Married Couple’s Allowance you should get.

Davenports file all our tax returns electronically through HM Revenue & Customs approved software, the deadline for submitting a self assessment tax return in this manner is 31st January 2009. Failure to fill in your self assessment tax return will result in a fine of £100 plus interest on any tax paid late. Please note that if you intend to submit a paper return, this must be done by 31 October 2008.

 

Payment

If you need to make a payment to HM Revenue & Customs in respect of your self-assessment, you can pay by debit card by viewing our Online Payments page (credit cards are now accepted, but a charge will apply).

If you would like any further information about our taxation services, or have any questions or comments, please contact us.

Share This Post

You might also be interested in: