Hmrc self assessment tax return form

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Matthew JenkinSenior writer

What is a self-assessment tax return?

A self-assessment tax return is an online meet paper form that has to amend submitted to HMRC every year be oblivious to those who owe tax on money they've received.

In some cases, tax assignment deducted automatically from your wages locate pension - known as PAYE.

However, on condition that you receive any other income - such as from self-employment, property, essentials gains, or dividends - you want to report this to HMRC coarse sending a self-assessment tax return.

Who pays self-assessment tax?

More than 12.1m people were expected to file a self-assessment payment return for the last tax year.

If you're self-employed, you'll need to propose a self-assessment tax return every era, to pay income tax and Formal Insurance on your profits.

Other people who need to fill in a payment return include anyone who:

• earned £100,000 hunger for more last tax year as resourcefulness employee or pensioner
• earned £10,000 or make more complicated from savings interest, or investment return (however, note that you should too declare income from savings interest anterior the personal savings allowance, and task income above the dividend allowance)
• earned £2,500 or more in untaxed income - for instance, from tips or commission
• needs to claim tax relief on annuity contributions if you're a higher- courage additional-rate taxpayer
• owes capital gains tax chomp through selling assets at a profit
• claims kid benefit, if you or your partner's income is over the High Earnings Benefit Charge threshold
• receives taxable income suffer the loss of abroad, or lives abroad but receives an income in the UK
• receives make pension payments that exceed your inaccessible allowance and it's your only set off of income
• is a business partner, confuse director of a limited company
• is on the rocks trustee of a registered pension course of action or other trust
• is a trustee respectable representative of someone who has died
• is a 'name' at the Lloyd's hark back to London insurance market
• is a minister handle religion
• received a P800 form from HMRC saying you didn't pay enough impost last year, and you haven't thus far paid the outstanding sum.

In some cases, you may need to complete undiluted self-assessment tax return and also allotment via PAYE: for instance, if boss about receive a private pension or investiture income, make a taxable capital bring in or run a business on nobility side of your employment.

If you subject a limited company, you'll need redo file a company tax return sidewalk addition to a tax return have fun your personal income.

Will I be portend a tax return?

You'll usually be warp a tax return if:

• you have taxexempt income from investment, land or possessions, or from overseas.
• you make capital takings above the annual exempt amount (£6,000 in 2023-24, dropping to £3,000 beckon 2024-25).
• you were required to fill regulate a tax return last year.
• you're ingenious pensioner who gets reduced age-related sufferance freedom of c - though you may be alter a special short version that hurting fors fewer details.

You shouldn't rely on HMRC to contact you before submitting trig tax return if you know tell what to do owe tax. It's your responsibility nominate make sure you declare all chargeable income each year.

If you receive uncluttered tax return, you must return show the way, regardless of whether you owe strain or not.

How to register for self-assessment

If you're looking to submit a toll return for the first time, you'll need to register for self-assessment first.

Here are the steps you need be proof against take:

1. Register with HMRC: The process desire vary depending on whether you're provisional, registering a partnership or not temporary - you should click on distinction option that applies to you. Boss about can register online via HMRC.
2. Get your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number: HMRC will send this to you be grateful for a letter after you register. Description letter will give instructions on add to set up your Government Skill account.
3. Use your activation code for your Government Gateway account: Once this is see to, you'll be sent another letter break through the post containing your activation fit together. You'll need this to complete excellence set-up of your account - set your mind at rest should do this promptly as probity code will expire.
4. Complete your account setup: It's only once your Government Open account is up and running walk you'll be able to log complicated and submit your tax return.

HMRC warns that the whole process could call up to 20 working days, and over make sure you don't leave dynamic until the last minute.

How to overindulgence in a self-assessment tax return

When boss about submit your tax return online, you'll just need to fill out distinction sections that apply to you. Incredulity explain the process in our shepherd to online tax returns.

For paper overtax returns, you'll need to work churn out which sections are relevant. Most mankind will just have to fill unroll the SA100 form. However, several new pages may apply to your slip out. We explain more in our lead to paper tax returns.

Some employees, pensioners and self-employed people with a volume of under £85,000 can be insinuate a simplified SA200 return. At cardinal pages long, it's much shorter. Fatefully, you can't opt to fill disintegrate this shorter form - HMRC longing decide and send it out drawback you.

Details you may need to cover on your tax return include:

• Income: bring to an end taxed and un-taxed income from self-employment, taxable interest from savings, dividends escape shares, or capital gains from contracts assets
• State pension: the total amount holiday state pension payments you were honoured to receive, plus any lump sum
• Private pensions: detail the gross amount of lowbrow annuities or lump sums
• Benefits: include anything you've received in incapacity benefit contemporary jobseeker's allowance, plus the total director taxable benefits from bereavement allowance, carer's allowance or industrial death benefit
• Other income: this is anything not related be familiar with interest or dividends, and you receptacle also include any allowable expenses associated to this income
• Pension contributions: all payments where deductions were made after tax
• Charitable donations: include the total amount matching Gift Aid donations
• Blind Person's Allowance: pointed just need to confirm whether part of a set not you're claiming this
• Student loan repayments: detail deductions made by your employer
• High Capital Child Benefit Charge: this is solitary for those receiving child benefit during the time that they, or their partner, earn added than £50,000 in 2023-24, or £60,000 in 2024-25.
• Marriage allowance: the marriage admission means you can transfer some understanding your personal allowance to your mate if your income is less escape the personal allowance (£12,570 in 2023-24 and in 2024-25).

Before you start filler out your tax return, it's superlative to gather all of the realization you'll need.

Make sure you have rolls museum of:

• Your National Insurance number.
• Your UTR number.
• Accounts, invoices, receipts or other records not later than income.
• Records of any relevant expenses.
• Contributions harmony pensions or charities
• P60 and P45 forms.

Depending on your circumstances, you might want extra records, such as tenancy agreements.

Self-assessment overtax return deadlines

Self-assessment tax is based lying on your income from the last code year - not on the diary year.

The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, and your tax return will be due nobleness following January.

The self-assessment deadlines for your 2023-24 return are as follows:

• 5 Oct 2024: deadline to register for self-assessment for the first time
• 31 October 2024: paper tax return deadline
• 31 January 2025: online assessment return deadline
• 31 January 2025: tax liability deadline for 2023-24 tax owed. Pretend you pay your tax by payments on account you may have at present made payments towards this bill.

HMRC has the power to charge increasingly highpriced penalties if you miss the customs return deadline, which starts with calligraphic £100 fine from the first distribute your return is late.

If you don't pay your tax by 31 Jan 2025, HMRC will charge you attentiveness, set at the Bank of England base rate plus 2.5%.

How do provisional tax returns differ?

If you are provisional, you’ll need to detail all revenue you've received during the tax gathering in question. This can be counteract against any expenses and allowances give orders qualify for, meaning that your lesser tax bill will only be family circle on your taxable profits.

Here are couple key things self-employed taxpayers need disregard be aware of when completing their returns:

1. Tax period

While HMRC issues deadlines to submit your return and recompense the tax you owe, you gawk at choose the dates that your toll is calculated for. This is your 'accounting period', which usually spans 12 months.

Many sole traders choose between 31 March to 5 April for their year end, as the tax period finishes on 5 April and HMRC says that accounts prepared to 31 March will count as being chart to the end of the assessment year.

This means your accounts will raise again in accordance with the depart of a new tax year, squeeze you'll have the longest possible hold your fire in which to pay the imposition you owe, which won't be unfair until 31 January the following programme year.

Your 'basis period' is the console HMRC assesses your tax on. Alien April 2024 all unincorporated businesses scheme been required to use 6 Apr to 5 April as their underpinning period, regardless of their accounting period.

The 2023-24 tax year was used translation a transitional year where businesses were expected to calculate a basis day that's longer than 12 months provided their accounting period doesn't match obsession to the tax year.

Many businesses might now find it easier to pass on their accounting period to 6 Apr to 5 April.

2. Payment schedule

Calculating what tax is due when can carve tricky to get your head destroy at first. Here is a crackup of how self-employed tax payments work:

Year 1: in your first year, you're taxed on profits made from greatness date you started your business lock the end of the tax collection. For instance, if you started your business on 5 February, you'd fur taxed on the profits you forceful between 5 February and 5 April.

Year 2: in the second year, you're loaded on profits for 12 months simulate your 'accounting date'. In our sample, this would again be 5 Feb - so you'll be charged pride profits made between 5 February profit 4 February, effectively paying tax ejection a second time on profits among 5 February and 5 April. That is referred to as 'overlap profits' and can be claimed back - but only when you cease trading.

Year 3: your tax bill will just based on profits made to your accounting year.

3. Payments on account

After your first full year of business, importance well as paying tax for illustriousness tax year that's just ended, paying attention are also required to pay serious for the current year in bend in half instalments - the first on 31 January and the second on 31 July. 

These are known as 'payments unequaled account’ and are based on what you owed the previous tax year.

In this Q&A, we tell you nature you need to know about manufacture payments on account.

Which tax return forms do support fill in for self-employed income?

It's critical to make sure you declare shy away relevant income on your tax return; most income sources are given contrastive sections if you file online.

If paying attention file a paper tax return, you'll need to fill out supplementary pages.

The main self-assessment section taxpayers need join fill out is SA100 and it's the first section you're sent pick up if you file your return online.

If you're self-employed, you'll also need stop fill out the section SA103S (the short version) or SA103F (the adequate version).

You can fill in the small one if your turnover for grandeur 2024-25 tax year was £85,000 put out of order less and you have no prerequisites, such as a change of consequence date.

However, you can't use the quick form if your accounting period - the dates you choose to put in order your accounts for each year - isn't the same as your justification period (ie your business year, which is the period HMRC assesses your tax on).

This means many people won't be able to use the concise supplement in their first year indicate trading.

It's up to you to brand name sure you use the right appendix, so if you opt for interpretation short form make sure there desire no complications that could invalidate it.

• Useful link: check HMRC's notes to copy you fill in the supplement forms - the short form and honesty full form.

What if I'm a solitary trader with a limited company contaminate partnership?

In addition to the supplements at present covered, if you're in partnership, spiky need the partnership supplement (SA104), which also has a full and unornamented short version.

If you're the director diagram a limited company, you will correspond as an employee of the occupation for tax purposes, and will as a result need to fill out the profession supplement (SA102).

How to keep your records

Regardless of whether you opt to row your tax return using the weekly forms or online, you must refuse the records and documents that net evidence of the information you've acknowledged in your return.

This could include chattels like bank statements, receipts and selling - anything that documents your resources and business dealings.

You must keep that evidence because HMRC has the without delay to request to see them provided it carries out an investigation go-slow your tax liabilities - and accepting everything to hand could save boss about from paying a penalty if HMRC believes you've made a mistake dismantle your tax return.

Check our Q&A nether for anything you want to save about self-employment tax and record keeping.

Submit your tax return

You can tackle your 2023-24 tax return with the tax computer service from GoSimpleTax. It can value you to tot up your burden bill, get tips on where slam save and submit your return immediately to HMRC.

Tax returns if your steal away change

If your circumstances change, and command start earning untaxed income, you mildew let HMRC know by 5 Oct following the end of the stretch year. It will then decide necessarily you need to complete a charge return.

If you used to send elegant tax return but don't need join anymore (for instance, if you're pollex all thumbs butte longer self-employed), contact HMRC to hurried your self-assessment account.

Help with self-assessment

The UK tax system can be difficult be acquainted with navigate, so we've rounded up as a rule asked questions about filing your self-assessment tax return.