Small businesses urged to get ahead with self-assessments

Smaller sized businesses are being encouraged to sort out their self-assessment tax returns earlier rather than later, in order to get a head start.

Informi – a website offering free practical advice and support for SMEs – acquired data from HMRC showing that almost five million people didn’t complete their last tax returns until January – the month of the deadline date.

As many as 177,745 were fined after submitting theirs in February.

Steven Drew, spokesperson for Informi, said, “We know that many people required to submit their tax returns will be battling to keep financially afloat during the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Obviously, the priority should be for them to ensure they manage their finances as well as possible at this time.

Steven Drew added, “However, as we have seen with the use of the past three years’ tax returns to help determine the size of support grants for those who are self-employed during the crisis, returns are of critical importance to the Treasury. Therefore, we would encourage those who can do so to submit their 2019/20 tax return as early as possible. As well as having the advantage of doing so during a typically quieter period at HMRC, potentially speeding up the process, they’re also more likely to have all the necessary information on hand and will allow themselves more time to deal with any problems – and avoiding potentially crippling fines.”

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