Top 12 tips: self assessment tax returns and risk areas

10 Jan 2019

With five million taxpayers yet to file their self assessment tax return Jonathan Amponsah, founder and CEO of The Tax Guys, provides tips to ensure returns are as accurate as possible to avoid any HMRC penalties as well as how to avoid problem areas such as cryptocurrency and student loans

Latest figures from HMRC suggest that a record number of people filed their tax returns on Christmas day. However, there are still about five million tax payers yet to complete their 2017/18 returns.

So, if you are still bracing yourself to hit the submit button on your tax return, here are top 12 tips to help reduce the worry and protect your cash.

1. Review and claim for all eligible expenses

The test for claiming expenses against your income is whether those expenses have been incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose trade or business. While this test can be misunderstood, here are five expenses which are often overlooked in practice: