Accountants in Bulls Cross

Directors paying themselves a salary still need a PAYE scheme and RTI submissions, even in a one-person company. It's a five-minute monthly task with software — and a recurring penalty generator without it.

Timing disposals across tax years, using losses properly, and the spousal transfer rules can all legitimately reduce capital gains bills — but only before the sale. CGT planning after completion is just arithmetic.

The businesses that struggle with tax bills rarely have a tax problem; they have a timing problem. Knowing the bill in September instead of January — which filing early gives you for free — is the difference between planning and scrambling.

If a return is late because HMRC asked for one you don't actually need, it can sometimes be withdrawn entirely — penalties included. And where there's a genuine reasonable excuse, appeals succeed more often than people expect. The wrong move is ignoring the letters.

The first tax bill is the hardest because it can arrive with payments on account attached — up to 150% of the year's tax in one go. New businesses that save a quarter to a third of profits from day one never feel it.

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.

Receipts win arguments. HMRC doesn't demand a shoebox of paper any more — photos in an app are fine — but every deduction needs evidence behind it. A ten-minute weekly habit beats a January archaeology dig, every time.

Rental profits need reporting once they're more than trivial, and the rules differ for furnished holiday lets, rent-a-room and ordinary lets. Landlords are also in the first wave of Making Tax Digital — property income counts towards the £50,000 threshold.