If submitting your last Self-Assessment led to the week from hell then rest assured, downloading this guide is the first step to ensuring that next one is the easiest ever.

From what to keep track of through the year to how best to fill in the form, we’ll walk you through the steps you can take for an easy year end.

kashflow.com | 0330 057 3989

Your Bookkeeping Checklist for an Easy Self-Assessment

Make sure you’re registered

One of the first things you need to do is ensure you’re registered as self-employed. To do this, you’ll need to register with HM Revenue & Customs directly.

Once you’ve created an account, you’ll receive a 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR). It’s important you keep this safe, as you’ll need it to link your account year-by-year.

You can use your account to send your tax returns online and check any payment due dates.

Tax deadlines for 2018:

Avoid any fines by making sure your paperwork’s in order for the following dates.

31st January 2018

Deadline for the 1st tax payment for 2017/18 tax year

5th April 2018

Deadline for claiming Self-Assessment tax overpaid during 2013/14 tax year

6th April 2018

Start of the 2018/19 tax year - You should getall your documents & info together for your 2017/18 tax return

31st May 2018

Employ someone? All employees need a P60 for the 2017/18 tax year by today

31st July 2018

Deadline for the 2nd tax payment for 2017/18 tax year

5th October 2018

If you’re newly self-employed (congratulations!) then you have to register with HMRC by today. Submit the CWF1 form for self-employment, or SA1 for non-self-employed income (like rent paid to you)

31st October 2018

Deadline for paper Self-Assessment returns to be submitted for 2018/19 tax year

30th December 2018

Deadline for online Self-Assessment returns for 2017/18 tax year

31st January 2019

31st January 2019 5th April 2019

Deadline for online Self-Assessment returns for 2017/18 tax year

Deadline for paying tax bill for 2017/18 tax year

Start of 2019/2020 tax year

Your tax bills are normally split across two payment every year. These will be due by midnight on 31st January and 31st July every year.

Registering with HMRC

Don’t leave it ‘til the last minute

The key to a stress-free Self-Assessment is planning ahead. HMRC are notoriously busy when the tax deadline arrives, and you might find your accountant equally snowed under with work, so it’s important to have any questions and concerns addressed as early as possible.

One top tip is to work your accounts into your weekly routine. Set aside a little time every week to go through your numbers and make sure everything is as it should be. Keeping on top of these jobs through the year will stop Self-Assessment from becoming overwhelming in January.

Jobs you can do through the year:

Keep your paperwork in order

Rather than scrabble around, looking for receipts and other document to support your claims as you fill in the Self-Assessment form, make it your mission to stay organised and keep your records up to date through the year.

Enter numbers as you go, so that you’re going into the year end with accurate and up-to-date figures.

Save for your tax bill

Most sole traders and small business owners dread the “double whammy” of Christmas and Tax Deadline coming so close together.

It’s therefore a good idea to save up through the year. Use financial reports to get a full view of your finances at various point of the year and predict how much your tax bill is likely to come to. This’ll help you save the right amount to pay your tax bill off without any hassle.

Log business expenses as they occur

File and save your receipts

Chase unpaidinvoices

Ensure your outgoings are paid up

Through the year… track money coming in

To make sure you’re paying the right amount of tax, you need to make sure your year-end statement is as accurate as possible. The best way to do this is to keep an eye on the money moving into and out of your business through the year.

Tracking invoices

Making sure you have the right money in your business’s bank account might involve you chasing any overdue or missing payments from customers.

Once the money’s in the bank, you can properly record it and reconcile your accounts to ensure they’re totally accurate.

Top 5 tips for collecting your due payments

Top tip: Create, amend and send your invoices straight to your customers with KashFlow, then follow up with automated reminders. Find out more.

Draw up terms and conditions before you start the work. This way, you have written proof of your agreement. Your Ts&Cs should include the work you’ll do, how much you’ll be paid for it, and (crucially) when you’ll be paid.

If you haven’t already, speed up the payment process by sending electronic invoices instead of physical ones. This saves time and reduces the risk of error – you can send the right invoice to the right person and send it as soon as possible.

Send eye-catching, professional looking invoices and make sure they’re addressed to the right person, as this’ll improve the chances of it being paid first.

Increase your payment options to make it as convenient as possible for customers to pay you. Look at solutions like those provided by Global Payments, Stripe or Worldpay so that customers short on cash can pay using a credit card and you’re no longer relying on BACS payments or overdue invoices.

Don’t be afraid to send late payments reminders – politely telling customers their payment is coming up or overdue.

1

2

3

4

5

Through the year… track money going out

Another job best performed through the year is to track the money going out of your business, especially your allowable expenses.

Some of the main expenses you can claim back from HMRC include:

Stock or raw materials

Financial costs like insurance and bank charges

Office costs like stationary

Travel costs like fuel and parking, or public transport fares

Advertising and marketing costs, like hosting a website

Premises costs, like energy bills and business rates

Staff costs, like salaries or payments for subcontractors

Clothing costs, for uniforms or similar

Work from home?

You can also claim a percentage of business premises costs on heating and electricity bills, your Council Tax, mortgage or rent and even internet and telephone use.It’s up to you to find a “reasonable method” of splitting your premises costs between personal and business use. You could split them based on the time you spend working from home, for example.

Managing employee expenses

If you have employees, then you’ll have to make sure you keep a record of any expenses and benefits you provide them with. These will be submitted on the P11D form. HMRC may ask for evidence of how these expenses were accounted for, so you should keep any relevant information such as receipts. Remember that records need to be kept for at least 3 years.

You can learn more about Expense Management here.

Top tip: Enter expenses straight into your accounting software and attach a copy of the receipt so that everything’s up-to-date and kept in one place. Learn more.

Getting ready… reconcile your accounts

One of the best ways to prepare for any tax year end is to make sure you reconcile your accounts. A reconciled account, confirmed with an appropriate bank statement, tells HMRC that everything is there – they just need to make sure it’s been filed properly.

It also gives you peace of mind, knowing that you’re filing a tax return with no discrepancies or “black holes” in your funds.

Make sure you don’t just reconcile your bank account – include credit cards, business loans and other liabilities like salaries so that you have a full overview of your business.

Jargon buster: what is reconciliation?

Reconciliation is an accounting process. It compares two sets of records to make sure the numbers match. This’ll help confirm whether the money leaving your account matches the amount you’ve officially spent. The goal is for them to match, so that your books are accurate.

Using Accounting Software

Link your bank to bring transactions into your accounting software and straight onto the Self-Assessment form. It’s one of the quickest and most effective ways to get your numbers in order. Learn more.

Top tip: Keep your business and personal finances separate so you know exactly where you are at year end.

Have you seen IRIS Snap?

Part of the KashFlow suite of products, IRIS Snap allows you to capture photos of receipts, invoices, purchase orders and bank statements and seamlessly process them into digital records ready for your accountant to review and publish directly into KashFlow!

Learn more.

12361287352785318983697346735473

54735478354715471409648916046394

61064936594804275084635325234732

57364578354854858727457354726732

47537453275723573272222564847594

65725464535648758447856734232435

46847367453424625678686464535636

53567646435363535355142337746553

34314253674634423122425364571717

62625344671816353434625343537575

99505959500003938476757856637484

64677646478559698777162525354647

58586899484746452526364746344231

22425364571717626253446718163534

34625343537575995059595000039384

76757856637474646776464785596987

77162525354647585868994847464525

26364746344231224253645717176262

53446718163534346253435375759950

59595000039384767578566374046467

76464785596987771625253546475858

68994847464525263647

12361287352785318983697346735473

54735478354715471409648916046394

61064936594804275084635325234732

57364578354854858727457354726732

47537453275723573272222564847594

65725464535648758447856734232435

46847367453424625678686464535636

53567646435363535355142337746553

34314253674634423122425364571717

62625344671816353434625343537575

99505959500003938476757856637484

64677646478559698777162525354647

58586899484746452526364746344231

22425364571717626253446718163534

34625343537575995059595000039384

76757856637474646776464785596987

77162525354647585868994847464525

26364746344231224253645717176262

53446718163534346253435375759950

59595000039384767578566374046467

76464785596987771625253546475858

68994847464525263647

Filling in the forms

As a standard, you’ll have to fill in form SA100 as part of your annual Self-Assessment.

Depending on your business structure and financial incomes, you’ll also have to fill in one of these forms:

If you’re not trading as an individual, you’ll need to send the following tax returns:

If you need help with your tax forms and end-of-year payments, then you can find an accountant via our directory.

Using Accounting Software

KashFlow helps you prepare your self-assessment by putting the figures into the right boxes on the Self-Assessment form.

If you don’t have the right information readily available, or you’re not sure about something, just save your tax return and come back later. Everything can be changed and edited until you press “submit”. And don’t forget to go through everything one last time just to make sure there are no mistakes!

Your situation Forms you have to send

You’re an employee or company director SA102

You’re self-employed SA103S or SA2013F

You’re in a business partnership SA104S or SA104F

You receive income from UK property SA105

You receive foreign income or gains SA106

You receive capital gains SA108

You’re a non-UK or dual resident SA109

Non-resident company SA700

Your business structure Forms you have to send

Partnership SA800 + supplementary pages

Trust and estate SA900 + supplementary pages

Trustee of registered pension scheme SA970

What you need to calculate… What you’ll need…

Your self-employed income Invoices and business expenses

Your employed income Your P60 form

Your dividends (if you run an ltd company)

Dividend voucher numbers

Your partnership income A Self-Assessment form from each partner, and an SA800 form for the company

How much interest you’ve paid and received

Bank or building society statements

Any rental income Proof of income (consider a separate bank account)

Any foreign income

Your pension contributions

Any state benefits

Total of charitable donations

Payment on account

Total in redundancy or unemployment benefits

Capital gains

Total employee benefits

Proof of income

Pension scheme details, as you may get tax relief

Proof of total payment receivesand tax deducted

Details of any Gift Aid you’re claiming

You’ll be given the chance to make a Payment onAccount while you pay for the previous tax year

Details of any payments or benefits received,plus your P45 form

Your P11D form

Declaration of any profits made from disposing assets

Other documents you’ll need

You’ll need plenty of information to hand when filling in your tax return, and you may have to submit some with your tax return. To avoid a headache at year-end, make sure you keep an up-to-date copy of:

• Bank statements• Any P60, P11D and P45 forms• Your P2 (PAYE Coding Notice) form• Any bank interest certificates• Detail of other income like dividends and shares

You’ll need to use these to calculate the following…

Don’t forget to save & print your tax return when you’re done! You need to save a copy for at least 5 years or risk a fine.

Making Tax Digital

Making Tax Digital, or MTD for short, is a government initiative setting out a vision for “a transformed tax system and the end of the tax return”.

Originally scheduled to start coming into force by April 2018, rollout of the UK govern-ment’s Making Tax Digital initiative has been delayed by “at least” two years and is now projected for a 2020 start date.

As announced by the Treasury, there are two key features to the announced delay:

From April 2019, businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold of £85,000 will have to keep digital records for VAT purposes.

Small businesses will not be asked to keep digital records or give quarterly tax updates until at least April 2020.

That said, the government are still keen to bring the full initiative into play and have the UK become “one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world”.

How Making Tax Digital could affect you

• You’ll have to file your tax returns quarterly

• You won’t have to wait until the year end to find out how much tax you owe

• You’ll have to file your tax returns online

• You’ll have to make doubly sure that your books are accurate and up to date!

You can learn more about the MTD delays here.

How KashFlow can helpA lot goes into a stress-free Self-Assessment. Fortunately, accounting software like KashFlow is designed to do much of the hard work for you.

Keep track through the yearUpload your numbers as you go so that, when you start your tax return, everything’s ready and waiting for you.

Make sure you’re saving enough Use KashFlow’s reports to track your business’s health and work out how much to save for your tax bill each year.

Links to HMRCOur software links directly to HMRC, meaning you can access all your data in one place and send it off in the right format – making it easier for you to stay compliant.

Keeping documents safeUpload everything to the cloud, where you can access it from anywhere and it’ll remain safe if your personal device crashes.

Work from one placeNo more stress leading up to tax deadline, everything’s from uploading your numbers to sending them off is managed by KashFlow.

Take a FREE trial

About KashFlow

This guide to getting paid faster was brought to you by KashFlow – specialists in straight-forward accounting software for sole traders, contractors & small business owners across the UK.

Over 57,000 time-strapped business owner-operators use our Accounting software to stay in control of their accounts, get paid faster and make sure they’re tax compliant. And as a small business takes on its first employees, KashFlow Payroll and HR are there to support too.

Started, grown and still based in the UK, we experience the same changes, challenges and legal compliance UK businesses face first-hand – and from that, we’ve built software that makes it all easy.

Want to try us out for free? Take free trial today to see where we can take you.