The January 31 deadline for filing your personal tax return is only days away as I write this and we’re down to the last half-dozen that need to be finalised and submitted. The common link among the last half-dozen is that most of the them have more tax to pay than they expected.

The tax calculation doesn’t change whether it’s done in June or January but it feels a lot worse when it’s done late because there’s no time to plan how to pay and if you need to negotiate time to pay with HMRC, the later you start the more you feel you’re on the back foot.

It doesn’t have to be this way!

Looking across the data provided to us by tax clients, there is very little data that isn’t knowable by May or June after the end of the tax year. The trick is to be organised about collecting it and passing it to your accountant.

In fact a really sensible target should be to have your tax return submitted by the beginning of July each year. This is because at the end of July you have to pay your second payment on account and if your tax bill is lower than your two payments on account then you need only pay the balance in July.

The simple message is – get yourself organised and get your tax return behind you as soon as you can after April each year.

Our last half-dozen will be submitted in time. It’s not them I’m worried about, it’s the guy who will call on January 31 and ask “Do you do tax returns?…….”

PS If you need help with your tax return (and it’s not the last week of January!) please give us a call on 020 7384 6800