No one likes tax season, but unfortunately, you can’t ignore it altogether. And if that was your plan for this year, you could be looking at quite a hefty tax bill. But don’t worry, if you’ve been a bit negligent with your bookkeeping, all is not lost. There are still steps you can take to avoid owing the HMRC all of your profits.
Just find the area that best describes the state of your books and we’ll tell you how to proceed.
I was pretty good at my bookkeeping, but the last few months I’ve really let it go.
Depending on your business type, if your books aren’t too far gone, you can still easily make the deadline this year. Since you’ve been on top of your books most of the year, you understand the value of knowing what’s going on in your business. It shouldn’t take a bookkeeper too long to get you back on track. Also, it might be time to think about getting a full-time bookkeeper so these slip ups don’t happen again. LeeP offers a bookkeeping service from £60+ VAT/ month or as a bolt-on to an existing package for £40+ VAT/ month.
My New Year’s Resolution was to be better at my books, I made it to March.
A few months behind isn’t the end of the world. Also, you’re probably going to want to hand over the next few months to a bookkeeper so you can have the full financial picture of what’s going on in your business. While they’re at it, you may want to ask them if your financials allow you to hire a bookkeeper. While you can continue doing your own books, it seems like you may have more important things to worry about. Outsource what you find tedious so you can spend time on the areas of your business you enjoy.
My books? I remember seeing them sometime last spring.
Not a fan of bookkeeping, huh? We get that. But the harsh reality is, you’re behind. An accountant or bookkeeper can help you with this if you’re unsure how to handle it yourself. The next order of business is going to be getting your books in state that you can hand them over to an Accountant to get the numbers you’ll need to input into their tax software. There are two options here, you can pay to get your books done for the last year, or you can get a summary of your revenues and allowable expenses. The difference is, doing a full reconciliation will give you a clear picture of what was going on in your business so you’ll have further insight into what you can improve. A summary will give you what you need for your taxes, but no real insight, but it will be a cheaper fix for right now. That being said, we strongly recommend finding a bookkeeper to help handle your day-to-day books so you can unlock the value of your financial information, and help prevent you from ending up in this position next year. If you’re not quite ready to employ someone full time, LeeP offers a bookkeeping service from £60+ VAT/ month or as a bolt-on to an existing package for £40+ VAT/ month.
What is this bookkeeping you speak of?
It’s clear you like living on the edge, and while we respect that, HMRC most certainly won’t. Since you’re going to need 12 months of bookkeeping, you have some options. If money is an issue, we recommend you work with someone who will just give you a summary of your revenue and allowable expenses for the year. However, this won’t really help you understand your business. If you want more insight, you can get your whole year’s worth of financials reconciled and cleaned up. Also, you should probably make sure this doesn’t happen again next year. Find a way to get your bookkeeping done that makes sense for your business. Because your current plan probably isn’t sustainable and will end up costing you more in the long run.