With everything that has happened so far this year, it might be easy to forget your obligations to file tax returns for 2019/20 by midnight on 31 January 2021.
The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic crisis has caused chaos with businesses up and down the country, most of which closed entirely during April 2020. The Government rolled out several measured to help businesses. Some of these schemes should be reported on your self-assessment tax return.
The Government has introduced several unprecedented measures to help them with the crisis, including deferring some key dates and deadlines involving self-assessment.
One of the biggest temporary measures, certainly for sole traders and partnerships, was the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS), which offered grants based on trading profits.
The use of the term ‘grants’ suggests they might be tax-free money from the Government, but they definitely are taxable at your marginal rate if you were lucky enough to be covered by the scheme, and should be reported on your self-assessment tax return.
As we head towards the autumn, here’s a reminder of the raft of key dates and deadlines approaching.
Key deadlines
Registering for self-assessment – 5 October 2020
October paper deadline – 31 October 2020
July payment on account – option to defer this payment until 31 January 2021
Submit self-assessment – 31 January 2021
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See our informative guide on “Getting on top of self-assessment” for full details.