Good afternoon,
Welcome to our first newsletter for 2024.
Self-Assessment Tax Returns
A huge thank you and well done to the Hills & Peeks team for reaching the finishing line for January’s self-assessment tax returns. As a small team, we handle over 325 Self-Assessment returns each year, with about a third of these still being completed in January alone. This is in addition to our other day to day work – quarterly company VAT returns, payroll processing, CIS returns, statutory Limited Company confirmation statements and Year End company accounts filings.
Now we have had chance to catch our breath, we are looking at ways to improve how we operate and make things smoother and less stressful for our clients and staff. After working positively with some of our clients last year to get their self-assessment information in much earlier in the year, we will be implementing this new protocol for tax returns for all self-assessment clients from this April. This enables clients to send us information as soon as they have it and not wait until December or January to remember to find it again and send it into us. By having information in a timelier manner across the year means that we have more time to request missing information or resolve any queries with you to get your tax return prepared earlier. Don’t worry you can still pay your tax bill by the normal deadlines, and we will remind clients in January that they need to pay any amounts owing. This benefits you as our client, as you can get information passed on to us more quickly and then have details of what tax is due earlier to be able to budget more effectively.
With HMRC’s move to make Income Tax digital with Self-Assessment returns becoming quarterly rather than annually, starting in phases from 2026, we wanted to start preparing and gradually get a new rhythm of information sharing going to assist our clients with this transition. We will be sending our normal reminders for information in April and ask that as soon as you receive your P45s, P60s, income/expenditure information etc then send it straight in to us. Once all information has been received, we have a normal turnaround time of 8 – 10 weeks to process, resolve any queries and prepare the return for your approval via OpenSpace. If you don’t want to pay your tax due at that point, then we will send an email in January to remind you to pay in time for the normal 31stJanuary deadline. This removes any threat of penalties for late submissions and gives clients a greater window to set aside the exact money then due for payment. We hope that will smooth the tax process out for clients and remove the last-minute panic and stress for many in December and January when they realise the deadline is imminent, information has still to be sent in and they don’t know if they have set aside enough to pay the bill by the deadline.
Other news
Christmas Fund Raiser – thanks to the generous donations from our clients we were able to send a total of £1325 to the three charities we were supporting, Turning Tides, Littlehampton & Distrcit Food Bank and Step Forward. All funds raised were gratefully received by the charities and will make a difference to the lives of others this year. We will let you know about our next charity challenge later on in the year.
Business and Tax Updates
Please find attached our Spring newsletter giving the latest business and tax information and updates. We will send a further newsletter later in the spring with a special Budget update.
As ever, if you have any questions or queries then please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kind Regards
Kate Truss
