Self-assessment 2007/08 – have you considered…
By now you will have familiarised yourself with the new filing deadlines to apply for the 2007/08 tax year onwards, as handed down by the Carter Review:
Deadline for filing paper returns 31 October
Deadline for filing online returns 31 January
There are, however, a couple of pitfalls for the unwary hidden in amongst these changes.
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HMRC will no longer approve computer-generated paper “substitute” SA tax returns for SA100 (individuals), SA800 (partnerships) or SA900 (trusts). This will be a particular problem for any advisers familiar with the limitations of HMRC’s online software, which cannot accept certain types of return and consistently rejects some returns with particular combinations of pages and/or boxes completed. You probably have a couple of clients for whom you usually post a signed print-out return from your tax software – that appears not to be an option. Their issued paper tax return must be used instead.
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There are a small number of return types which still retain the old deadline of 31 January for paper returns. These are:
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A trustee of Registered Pension Schemes
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A non-resident company liable to Income Tax
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MPs and National Assembly members who complete the relevant pages in their tax return.
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Returns of the tiny proportion of SA taxpayers whose Returns “cannot currently be filed online because HMRC has not yet been able to develop online facilities for their particular circumstances”. There is no guidance as to which taxpayers this might include. If you can establish that your client is such a taxpayer, you are still permitted to file a paper, computer-generated substitute return provided it is identical in appearance to the HMRC form in question.
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On the plus side, the enquiry “window” for tax returns has now been amended such that it closes twelve months after the actual date on which the return was filed, rather than twelve months from the filing deadline, as formerly. This is good news for advisers seeking to reassure their clients that their tax affairs for a particular year are secure as soon as possible.
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From 2007/08 onwards, taxpayers who complete the Capital Gains pages must also include their Capital Gains computation.
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HMRC have redesigned their online filing system so that certain parts of the return, such as the box of PAYE under or over payments, are already filled in. These can, however, be overwritten if you believe they are incorrect, so it is still worth double-checking the figure.
For further information listen toHMRC’s April 2008 podcast on self-assessment advice for agents.