UK Tax Return Deadline - 31 January 2015

SoundNFury wrote on January 25, 2015, 4:57 AM

I'm waiting to receive some documents in order to file my U.S. taxes, which e have until April 15 to do. I am eager to do them because I get money back! lol

UK_Writer wrote on January 25, 2015, 5:16 AM

Our system works differently to yours. With ours you submit what you earnt and your expenses, then you look at the difference to see if you have to pay tax on it. There is a tax free allowance of about £10,000/year and after that you pay 20% tax on the next £5k or so. After that you'd pay more tax on the higher amounts, but I don't get that far :)

SoundNFury wrote on January 25, 2015, 5:21 AM

Ah, ok. With ours it only takes into account expenses if they are specific for a business or if they exceed a certain "standard deduction." I get money back these days because I pay a lot of interest on my house. Before I owned it, I tended to owe money each year.

Koalemos wrote on January 25, 2015, 6:41 AM

I absolutely hate the format of tax returns. Despite being single I have to enter a figure for my imaginary wife on dozens of sections rather than just enter relevant data.

scheng1 wrote on January 25, 2015, 7:31 AM

We have a different system. We are not paying tax through payroll deduction, so we have to file our income tax a year later.

mrtoffee wrote on January 25, 2015, 8:30 AM

I've been putting my accounts today in between playing with the girls. I am an accountant so next week will be insane, can't wait for January to be over

Maplewinter wrote on January 25, 2015, 12:09 PM

I did not realise that you had to do tax returns for money you made on writing sites. Do you have to declare yourself as self employed? I am classed as disabled so shouldn't be earning money. I know one thing I would do though is have a separate account for all of my online earnings that way I wouldn't have to highlight all personal items.

celticeagle wrote on January 25, 2015, 1:25 PM

I am retired and I don't do taxes anymore. When I was younger I did it all myself but later started having H&R do it for me.

UK_Writer wrote on January 25, 2015, 5:59 PM

We don't get anything back for interest paid on a house loan. Expenses allowable are only those legitimately paid out for the business.

UK_Writer wrote on January 25, 2015, 6:00 PM

I am single. Online I just ignore those sections, on paper I just draw a line right across the whole page/section.

UK_Writer wrote on January 25, 2015, 6:00 PM

Well, in a way it's better than a few years ago, when it all happened online on 31 December, mucking up your Xmas :)

UK_Writer wrote on January 25, 2015, 6:03 PM

If you are in the UK you have to register for being self-employed for your self-employed income, which is what writing online is. Being disabled is nothing to do with this fact. If you earn income through self-employment, you have to register.
Universal Credits are changing in April, for those on benefits who have been using "self-employment" to cheat and claim Working Tax Credits, they'll now have to give their tax registration number as part of their claim - and it will be automatically assumed that the hours they say they're working are paid at the national minimum wage. The purpose of this is to weedle out those cheating the system by playing the system. The sort of people who would register as, say, an Avon lady, then say they worked 16 hours and made a profit of £10, just to get top ups of WTC/CTC and a host of other cash benefits.

UK_Writer wrote on January 25, 2015, 6:04 PM

An income is an income, whether retired or not, so if you're self-employed in any roles you should fill out the annual assessment still. Tax might not be due, but the tax return is.

Paulie wrote on January 25, 2015, 10:07 PM

Can't you find enough deductions so that maybe you can get a refund from your taxes. Is any of your tax from income or pensions withheld each month? In the States, we are granted a six month extension if we can't file on time. Can you apply for extensions in the UK?

Maplewinter wrote on January 26, 2015, 5:35 AM

I am more worried about how it would affect my disability benefits to be honest. I only claim Personal Independent Payment as it is the only thing that I am entitled to because my hubby is working full time hours. We only get something like £1.50 for working tax credits because of his wage. It should be more but they made a £3000 cock up so are taking so much a month off the benefit which they are taking off the current years award. If it wasn't for that being paid I don't think I would bother claiming as it would only be about £5 a week.

UK_Writer wrote on January 26, 2015, 8:36 AM

I've few outgoings. I write online, so few business expenses. The main expenses are hosting bills for websites. I've no pensions and not enough income to put into a pension, also it's "too little, too late" on that front!
You can't get extensions in the UK.
Filling in the tax return isn't difficult, but you do need to [a] get your bank statements out [b] add up the income and expenditure - and sometimes that getting round to it is easy to put off. I've not actually done it yet .... put it off yesterday, putting it off again today.

celticeagle wrote on January 27, 2015, 11:13 PM

I wondered about that years ago. I called the place where I used to get my taxes done through and asked them. They told me that unless I made a certain amount or more that I didn't need to worry about it. So I don't.