I’ve been waiting to fill out my Tax Return because I need a piece of information that hasn’t arrived yet – what should I do as the deadline gets closer, should I just wait until it arrives – I don’t know how to complete it otherwise?
This question comes up often in relation to overseas income where the end of year Tax Reports follow different dates to the UK, Public sector Pension Statements in relation to Annual Allowance charges, or income which is administered by a friend or relation who hasn’t kept particularly good records. We do also see this problem where records may be inaccessible due to a death in the year (either where we are preparing a Return on behalf of a deceased individual, or where there was joint income, and the account information is not available after the death of one of the joint owners or can’t be easily split between pre and post death amounts).
First consider if there is any way at all that you could get the information – if you’re waiting for a summary that hasn’t arrived, could you use an online account to manually obtain the information that you need in relation to the tax year, if it’s reasonable to do so? If the answer is yes, get logged on, get adding up, and include the figures on your Tax Return for submission by 31st January 2025.
If that’s not an option, can the figures accurately be calculated, or reasonably be estimated (by you, or your accountant for example)? If so, they should be included on the Tax Return, with a ‘white space note’ to explain what you’ve done, and the Tax Return submitted by 31st January 2025. If you later get the ‘actual’ figures through, and they are different to the calculations/estimations you would then need to repair your Tax Return or otherwise update HMRC so that you tax position can be corrected.
Otherwise, if there is absolutely no way that you can obtain the figures, or include reasonable calculations or estimates, then you should still submit your Tax Return (without the figures if necessary) and repair the form when they later arrive.
HMRC will expect your Tax Return by the deadline. Non-submission of the Tax Return will lead to penalties and HMRC will not accept missing paperwork as a reasonable excuse for non-submission. Just remember that if you do end up with paperwork that shows different figures to whatever you submitted, you really do need to notify HMRC of the change. Whether that is by repairing the Tax Return, or writing to HMRC, depending on the timing of the amendment.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss Tax planning, get in touch with our team of experts on 01424 730345 or email bexhill@honeybarrett.co.uk and they will be happy to help.
