We doubt that any one enjoys completing and submitting self-assessment tax returns, however it is necessary and can be made a good deal easier with a bit of planning, professional help and a careful approach to beating the deadline.

Harvard Accountancy of Bolton are the local professionals who are ready, willing, and able to help. Established in Bolton since 2015 their aim is to help local small and medium sized businesses with their accountancy especially when it comes to tax affairs and dealings with HMRC.

Now that April is past the clock is running. So what happens next? The brown envelope will land on the doormat containing the HMRC self-assessment tax return document. Do not ignore this tax return. Start now assembling the information that is needed so that when submission time comes you are ready, better still phone a friend. Harvard will guide you through it all. There will be timely reminders on television in case we forget, and time flies for busy people. It is a good idea to mark it in the business diary on a monthly five, four, three, two one basis, or ask Harvard to take care of it for you.

Should business people wish to go it alone they need to visit the HMRC web site to sign up for on-line submission of their tax return. It is easy to register and set up a password access, and there are full instructions available onsite.

Completing the tax return requires people to have a clear break down of income, expenditure, costs and personal income etc. Quite simply, business people need to show their trading income, legitimate deductions to set off against tax, wages and all other expenses, culminating in a payment amount due to HMRC. In any business context the easy way to assemble this information is to do regular book keeping – on a monthly basis at least – don’t wait until the Moira Stewart ads on telly to get it done sitting up burning the midnight oil trying to remember what this receipt is for and that...

Better still ask Harvard to take care of all of this for you, all the business owner/operator needs to do is drop in the receipts and leave it to the professionals. Easy! Plus, HMRC like to see proper accounts, they do not like to see confusion - poorly assembled accounts will ring alarm bells. At the very least the wrath of HMRC can cost a lot of money in fines and interest charges and ultimately can lead to Criminal Charges being brought.

It is far more cost effective, and a good deal safer, to enlist the services of Harvard Accountancy who will take on the job in a practical and pragmatic way, they are expert book keepers, completion and submission of tax returns are simple to them and for what they charge it is worth it just for the peace of mind.