Accountants in Ashton-under-Lyne

HMRC requires records to be kept for at least five years after the filing deadline for the self-employed. Digital copies count. A cloud folder or app now beats a carrier bag of paper every time — for you and for any future enquiry.

Compare accountants on the things that bite later: is the fee fixed and written down, what exactly is included, who does the work, how fast do they answer in January. Proximity to Ashton-under-Lyne stopped being the differentiator the day filings went electronic.

The tax-free dividend allowance is down to £500, so almost any director taking dividends now pays some dividend tax — and needs a Self Assessment return to report it. The classic small-salary-plus-dividends strategy still works; it just needs actual planning rather than folklore.

Limited companies in CIS reclaim differently to sole traders — through payroll or the company tax return rather than Self Assessment. Plenty of construction companies sit on refundable deductions without realising; a quick review of the CIS position often pays for itself immediately.

Selling a rental property triggers capital gains tax with a tight reporting window — UK residential sales must be reported and the tax paid within 60 days of completion. It's one of the easiest deadlines in the whole system to miss, and one of the most penalised.

Compliance checks are usually specific: one return, one figure, one question. Answered promptly and with evidence, most close quickly. The expensive enquiries are the ones that started as unanswered letters.

HMRC runs nudge-letter campaigns to crypto holders based on exchange data. If there are undeclared gains in past years, a voluntary disclosure is dramatically cheaper than waiting for the letter — penalties are scaled to cooperation.

A limited company juggles two regulators: Companies House wants accounts within nine months of year end, HMRC wants corporation tax paid at nine months and a day. Same starting point, different documents — and late filing penalties at Companies House escalate automatically and are rarely cancelled.