Self Assessment - What To Expect?

[mburdett555]

I signed up to Gov UK self assessment last year and have a month by month spreadsheet of my profits and losses.

At present I am transfering 20% of my profits to my HMRC account , so that when the self assessment is due I should have the funds uploaded to pay what I owe in tax.

Just wondering what the actual tax return or whatever actually involves, I assume it's not just a declaration of how much I think I owe and paying it. Will I be expected to upload the spreadsheet and or a zip file of my receipts from expenses?

 

[Adam]

Typically you have the option of giving a breakdown of income and expenses, or you can give the actual total figure of income and expenses as one entry.

It's not a hard process and will take you about 10-20 mins, just make sure you read each section and you'll be fine.

Once submitted it will give you the total of what you owe at the dates, and if the funds are already in your HMRC account , they will simply take whats owed from that account.

It's good you are keeping on top and putting aside funds as you go, as its hard work playing catch up, other things to consider and monitor is your VAT threshold, its very easy to go over the threshold and not realise as its a rolling 12 month period, not a tax year.

Depending on the business, I'd actually recomemmend going VAT registered way sooner than is required, saves alot of headache later on.

 

[mburdett555]

Luckily this is just a side hustle and generates a turnover of just over £500 per month. An online business based on a website subscription model as the primary source of income.

Outgoings are obviously web hosting, SMTP platform and Google Workspace, around £150 so £300 ish profit each month.

I'm not registered as VAT nor a company due to the low profits and the fact that as a business that "earns while I sleep", the subscription/ userbase/ profits will rise and fall , sometimes drastically.

Thanks. Hopefully shouldn't be too complicated then. My main concern was the receipts etc as I don't really pay attention to these. What comes out the bank account just goes into the spreadsheet.

 

[fisicx]

HMRC doesn't need to see your receipts. All you do is go online and fill in the form. It's a really simple process.

You just need to make sure you claim all you expenses. There are a lot more than just your hosting and Google workspace. For example: Insurance, your internet bill, mobile phone, office heating...