Ten tips for self-assessment tax returns

Date: 1st October 2008

Small businesses and employers planning on filing a self-assessment tax return have been offered some valuable advice.

The financial services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has published "ten top tips" to help companies file their tax return with HM Revenue and Customs.

One of the most helpful pieces of advice is to check that you have all the right pages when filing. For example, those involved with buy-to-lets will need the property pages and employees will need the employment pages.

Self-assessors are also told to treat the first six pages as though it were an exam, with each question being read thoroughly and answered in the best possible manner to ensure a 100 per cent pass mark.

This year, new 'additional information' pages are also included which need to be completed for more involved items, such as share schemes and any stock dividends you receive. If this does not apply to you, do not send it back with the return.

Taxpayers are reminded that the deadline for paper self-assessment tax returns is October 31st, while those filing online have until January 31st.