Accountants in Kensington Olympia

Online Self Assessment returns are due by 31 January, along with any balancing payment — and HMRC's £100 penalty applies the moment the deadline passes, even if you owe nothing. Most Kensington Olympia clients who come to us in January still file on time; the records just need to arrive before the last week.

Crypto traders rack up hundreds of taxable events without noticing, because every swap counts as a disposal. Specialist software plus the pooling rules turns the mess into a number; guessing does not.

Status under IR35 turns on the reality of the engagement: control, substitution, mutuality of obligation. Contracts matter, but working practices matter more. A written status assessment for each engagement is cheap insurance.

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.

The trading allowance means up to £1,000 of gross side income per year can be tax-free with no return needed. Above that, registration and reporting kick in — and platforms now report seller data to HMRC, so "under the radar" isn't a strategy any more.

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.

Good records aren't about neatness — they're about money: claims you can evidence, VAT you can reclaim, and an accountant who spends billable time on advice rather than sorting. Bank feeds plus a receipts app gets most small businesses to "tidy" in minutes a week.

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.