Q & A on Self Assessments with Jason Blackman

Good evening everyone, and welcome to the latest ASN FREE Q & A session with Jason Blackman. Tonights Q & A is on Self-Assessments. If you have any questions, please post as a comment below. Please be aware, if any questions are left unanswered, then they will be answered at a later time. And thank you all for participating…..now over to you, who has the first question?

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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman Good evening everyone, I have a few questions up my sleeve but in the meantime – over to everyone!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:01

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman OK, so, first one – can I adjust a return that’s already been filed. The answer is yes you can – you have until the following deadline to do it. So in other words if it’s the 14/15 return due 31 Jan 16 you want to adjust you have until 31 Jan 17 to do it – any later than that you have to write to HMRC.
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· 18 January at 19:03

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman Bear in mind also you have to use the same software to make the adjustment.
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:03

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman Everyone must be busy doing tax returns, haha!
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· 18 January at 19:04

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman OK, so, tax return software! HMRC have a free offering but it does leave a little to be desired in my opinion. A brilliant option is Taxfiler (www.taxfiler.co.uk) – it’s cloud-based and VERY reasonably priced!

Taxfiler – tax and accounting software
Cloud-based tax and accounts software for accountants in practice – powerful, reliable and fast. The future of…
TAXFILER.CO.UK
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· 18 January at 19:05

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman Next Thursday I’ll be demoing Taxfiler so check it out if you want to see it action – it’s well worth it believe me!
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· 18 January at 19:05

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman OK so as you probably know the tax return deadline is 31st January. Bear in mind that, even if there’s no tax to pay, you’ll still get a fine if it’s late!
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· 18 January at 19:06

Natasha Everard
Natasha Everard Pricing – What would you suggest would be the price for a simple self assessment and submission of their tax return?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:07

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … hmm, that’s a good one. I see lots of ‘quick tax return’ service offerings and you do often wonder how good they really are. My cheapest would probably be £100 I would think but I do know some that charge £300 upwards just for tax returns! I guess …See more
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· 18 January at 19:09

Natasha Everard

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Victoria Harrington-Biddle
Victoria Harrington-Biddle on completion of SA and being told over £1k refund due and then upon checking account it now says £254 bill, which is right?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:07

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … that’s an interesting one Victoria but it may have something to do with payments on account? If your tax bill is over £1k then you’ll be required to pay a further 50% upfront, as well as another 50% in the July. This may be where the confusion has arisen?
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· 18 January at 19:09

Victoria Harrington-Biddle
Victoria Harrington-Biddle no bill in any year as no money from anything eccept employments and all of those added up to over payment, logged on though and now had a bill, paid it obviously but interesting to see where on earth it came from !
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:11

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it might be worth looking into that then Victoria – all I would say is you never know what HMRC are up to so it’s always best to double-check the figures!
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· 18 January at 19:12

Victoria Harrington-Biddle
Victoria Harrington-Biddle submitted the reduction thingy off hmrc site
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· 18 January at 19:13

Natasha Everard

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Karen Darby Maat
Karen Darby Maat I’ve booked on for the taxfiler demo, is it software that can be used with xero?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:08

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it can indeed Karen! I use Xero for my bookkeeping and Taxfiler for accounts prep and tax returns – both cloud-based as you would expect!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:11

Natasha Everard
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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman OK, another question I was asked was is it OK to prepare tax returns for friends & family? At the end of the day anyone can get hold of tax software and prepare tax returns but what you have to remember (especially if you’re doing it as a ‘favour’) is …See more
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· 18 January at 19:14

Helen Peacock
Helen Peacock Thanks for this, think I’m clear now.
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:28

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … all I would say to anyone is Helen is just to be a bit careful if you’re doing it as a favour for someone. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing and HMRC will come down hard on the taxpayer if there’s problems!
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· 18 January at 19:30

Natasha Everard

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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman As I said I’ll be running the demo of Taxfiler next week but it’s well worth noting that, once you’ve entered your Trial Balance, you can populate the self-employment page on your tax return from that. So it really is clever software, and massively reduces your workload!
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· 18 January at 19:17

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman Something I often come across is if someone is running a part-time business and has a shock when they have to pay 20% tax on their profits. Don’t I get a personal allowance, they ask? My answer, yes you do of course, but if it’s completely used up by your employment, then it’s gone! You only get one personal allowance…
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· 18 January at 19:20 · Edited

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman Another question I often get asked is when do I need to register for tax returns? You have until 5th October in your business’s second tax year to register or you could face a penalty.
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· 18 January at 19:21

Natasha Everard
Natasha Everard When does the legislation come into effect about quarterly returns and who does it effect?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:23

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman Great question! MTD (or Making Tax Digital) at the moment (!) comes into effect in April 2018 although we’re still waiting for confirmation from HMRC that this indeed will happen as they are under a lot of pressure to move it. The quarterly summaries w…See more
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· 18 January at 19:26

Natasha Everard
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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman Oh and another question! Does a company director need to fill in a tax return? This has historically been a bit of a grey area but the general answer is yes. HMRC say that you need to file a return as a company director unless it was for a non-profit organisation and you didn’t get any pay or benefits…
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· 18 January at 19:23

Jo McAllister
Jo McAllister If someone owes a lot of old (like 8 years ago old!) Tax returns and then files them very late what is the situation regarding paying the tax. I have read about HMRC making a determination?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:24

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … HMRC will make determinations if the tax returns aren’t received. If you know there are old ones to make it’s best to do it ASAP. One of the more common sources of income that people fail to declare is income from property, but HMRC actually have a special ‘landlord amnesty’ where they will allow you to ‘come clean’ without fear of harsh punishment!
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· 18 January at 19:27

Jo McAllister
Jo McAllister Ah so if they have now been filed the tax owed will be due?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:29

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … that’s right, if they’re now filed the actual figures will supersede their ‘guess’!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:31

Victoria Harrington-Biddle
Victoria Harrington-Biddle Jason Blackman can you inbox me on this as i have aa query but am in a lesson!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:37

Natasha Everard

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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman OK, question time again! I was asked if someone runs a car through their self-employment will it affect their employed tax code? If you’re talking about two completely unrelated sources of income then no it won’t. However you need to be careful about what you’re putting through as regards your car, remember you must disallow any proportion for personal use…
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:29

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman I know I bang on about MTD but I read somewhere the other day that 94% of small businesses don’t even know about it! I find it hard to believe the number is that high but, whatever the details are, it IS coming and we do have to prepare for it. We really must get our clients onto cloud-based bookkeeping systems so that, when the time DOES come, we’re all systems go!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:32

Helen Peacock
Helen Peacock Only slightly related but what do you find best for running your cloud software on, mac or windows?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:42

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … for me it’s Mac. I’ve had my iMac for a year now and it’s been SO reliable whereas my previous (Windows) machine was constantly crashing. I just think it LOOKS better as well! Xero on a Mac is a joy to use!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:43

Helen Peacock
Helen Peacock Jason Blackman happy with the spreadsheets on it? I think I’m a bit stuck in my Microsoft ways!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:45

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … only issue is Helen come the dawn of MTD you’ll need to dump your spreadsheets and move to the cloud!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:47

Natasha Everard

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Ida Bouwhuis Maat
Ida Bouwhuis Maat If you use taxfiler to do an AS for a client, do you still need an agent code to upload it to HMRC?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:32

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … if you’re acting for a client Ida then yes you do!
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· 18 January at 19:33

Natasha Everard
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Jo McAllister
Jo McAllister So with MTD sole traders won’t be able to file quarterly online like they do with their current self assessment?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:33

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … so sole traders will need to file quarterly reports with HMRC so annual tax returns will be phased out!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:34

Jo McAllister
Jo McAllister Oh I see. Crumbs my clients will need to get their backsides in gear to even give me accounts quarterly!! They could still do manual accounts then file quarterly online?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:36

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … the quarterly returns will have to be filed using some sort of cloud-based software, HMRC have been very clear that they won’t be providing the software. So I would say that an online bookkeeping system HAS to be set up for everyone. But you’re right, clients will suddenly need to move a bit quicker come MTD!
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· 18 January at 19:38

Natasha Everard

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Tamara Salter
Tamara Salter I have heard of a number of bookkeepers recommend Andica as SA software. Do you know what the differences are between Taxfiler & Andica?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:34

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … must admit I don’t know anything about Andica, although a quick look at their website suggests their product is download or CD, whereas Taxfiler is cloud-based. I personally think moving forward we should be looking to the cloud for all our software but as I say I don’t have any experience of Andica…
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· 18 January at 19:37

Natasha Everard

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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … here’s a handy little MTD guide for everyone!
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· 18 January at 19:41

Natasha Everard
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Jo McAllister
Jo McAllister Is it known if the MTD will be phased in gradually?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:40

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … the details are STILL yet to come Jo. There’s pressure on HMRC to extend the start date but at the moment no, come April 2018 it will become compulsory for sole traders to file quarterly returns. So April to June 2018 will be the first one to file. As I say, this is still to be confirmed but that’s the latest!
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· 18 January at 19:42

Jo McAllister
Jo McAllister Thanks I need to read up on this once I am through with auto enrollment!!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:43

Natasha Everard
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Christine Pearce
Christine Pearce If you are a director of a ltd company, and have filed companies tax, do you have to file a self assessment?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:41

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … the short answer Christine is YES. It’s been debatable in the past but to be safe I would always file one!
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· 18 January at 19:43

Natasha Everard
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Tamara Salter
Tamara Salter When completing a self assessment for a self employed trader, does their NI automatically get calculated based on their profits? I believe that class 2 NI is voluntary under a certain amount?
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· 18 January at 19:42

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … absolutely right Tamara. Class 2 is a ‘voluntary amount’ (although due if your profits are more than £5,965 a year) now paid through self assessment and Class 4 is based on profits…
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· 18 January at 19:51 · Edited

Natasha Everard
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Rachel Boyles
Rachel Boyles If you’re doing a SA for someone who is currently employed, but in the year of assessment they were employed and also sub contracting do you check the box for self employed or employed?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:42

Rachel Boyles
Rachel Boyles Jason Blackman thank you- great session, just catching up now 😊
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· 18 January at 22:19

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it’s a pleasure Rachel!
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· Reply · 18 January at 22:22

Natasha Everard

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Jo McAllister
Jo McAllister For people who file SA but don’t have self employment will they still file annually ? I need to read up on this more!!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:42

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … again details are still sketchy but yes they will. Hopefully soon HMRC will release some concrete information on this!
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· 18 January at 19:46

Natasha Everard

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Lucie Howard Aatqb
Lucie Howard Aatqb What is the best way to find out all the relevant information to be able to do self assessments for others?
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· 18 January at 19:49

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … as I said earlier Lucie it’s a little bit of a risky area and I wouldn’t recommend doing tax returns for others without the relevant experience. That’s no detriment to anyone at all but you have to remember that the taxpayer bears the responsibilit…See more
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:50

Lucie Howard Aatqb
Lucie Howard Aatqb I have done my husband’s for the last 6 years – he is employed and we rent his property.
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:55

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … as I said no detriment at all – lots of people choose to do it themselves and that’s great!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:56

Lucie Howard Aatqb
Lucie Howard Aatqb Is taxfiler pretty fail safe then?
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:59

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … to me it is Lucie yes – have a play around with the demo site which I have posted the link for but yes, I think it’s fantastic software, especially for the price!
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· 18 January at 20:00

Natasha Everard
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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman So after all this about tax returns the sad story is they could be dying out! Once MTD comes into play then they will be phased out and quarterly reporting will need to be done. So we will need to be a lot more on top of our client’s figures!
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· 18 January at 19:53

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman http://demo.taxfiler.co.uk

Taxfiler
This site is fully functional and works identically to our live site in most respects, although unlike our live site it is not secure and does not allow e-filing of Tax Returns to HMRC.
DEMO.TAXFILER.CO.UK
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· 18 January at 19:53

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … here’s Taxfiler’s demo site so you can have a little play around to see how it all works – take it from me, it’s brilliant software and SO reasonably priced!
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· 18 January at 19:54

Natasha Everard

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Natasha Everard
Natasha Everard Okay before i forget, i would like to thank Jason for his excellent answering skills again tonight. And for you guys for asking 🙂
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· 18 January at 19:54

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it’s a pleasure once again Natasha – look forward to seeing you all next Thursday for the Taxfiler demo!
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· 18 January at 19:55

Natasha Everard
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Toni Taylor
Toni Taylor Question I have a friend who is self employed as a full time job but also does another job not related in anyway they have always done their own books and SA I am looking at getting experience by seeing how they do this would it be worth it? And any tips on what the most important things to look for not to miss etc
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:55

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it would certainly be worth seeing how they do it Toni to pick up some valuable tips – it may be that you spot something they’re doing wrong as well!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:57

Toni Taylor
Toni Taylor Jason Blackman both jobs are self employed is that 2 SA
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:58

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … no just two separate pages in the same return Toni!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:59

Toni Taylor
Toni Taylor thank you
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· 18 January at 19:59

Toni Taylor
Toni Taylor Struggling at the moment with advanced bookkeeping at level 3 Aat don’t work in accounts at all but would love to eventually
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· Reply · 18 January at 20:01

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … keep going Toni – it will be SO worth it. With the advent of MTD bookkeepers are going to be in SUCH demand!
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· 18 January at 20:02

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it’s Making Tax Digital – see the posts in the thread!
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· Reply · 18 January at 20:07

Natasha Everard

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Tamara Salter
Tamara Salter Thank you Jason Blackman in providing your continuing expertise to this fab group and for Natasha Everard for organising 🙂
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· 18 January at 19:55

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it’s a pleasure Tamara!
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· 18 January at 19:57

Natasha Everard
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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … no problem Jo – you’re very welcome!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:57

Natasha Everard
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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it’s a pleasure Helen!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:58

Natasha Everard

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Karen Darby Maat
Karen Darby Maat Thank you Jason and I’ll look forward to the taxfiler demo next week.
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:57

Tamara Salter
Tamara Salter Looking forward to it 🙂
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· 18 January at 19:58

Natasha Everard
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Toni Taylor
Toni Taylor I have loved this thank you
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· 18 January at 19:58

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it’s a pleasure Toni!
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· Reply · 18 January at 19:59

Natasha Everard
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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … hope you all enjoyed the session – if you have any more questions please post them as I’ll keep an eye on the thread. In the meantime thank you all for your comments and see you all soon!
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· 18 January at 20:01

Becky McColm
Becky McColm I am just catching up on this thread now. Really interesting stuff. Thank you Jason and Natasha.
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· 18 January at 20:58

Plamenna Neykova
Plamenna Neykova Hi guys, I missed the session tonight, was it recorded and if saw how could I watch it? Thanks
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· Reply · 18 January at 21:04

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … it wasn’t a visual session Plamenna, literally it’s this thread!
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· 18 January at 21:06

Natasha Everard

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Joanna Girul
Joanna Girul Hello, I might be too late with the question, I hope not. If someone stopped working for a company in 2012 and started small online business but has not registered as self employed for the first 5 months when starting the business (it wasn’t trading al…See more
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· Reply · 18 January at 21:33

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Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … so when did the business start trading Joanna?
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· Reply · 18 January at 21:38

Joanna Girul
Joanna Girul Hi Jason, The employment with the company ended in March 2012 and the trading started in September 2012, all covered from self funding and registration with HMRC as sole trader was from September 2012.
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· Reply · 18 January at 21:43

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … so you’re saying there was a gap between March & September but there was no trade between those two dates?
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· Reply · 18 January at 22:12

Joanna Girul
Joanna Girul It was the time of building a website, contacting suppliers etc but there was no trade
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· Reply · 18 January at 22:15

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … can’t see a problem then – there’s nothing to say the two periods can’t have a gap between them!
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· Reply · 18 January at 22:22

Joanna Girul
Joanna Girul Thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. I am not from the UK but was wondering what would be the long term effect (if any) of this period in which no tax have been paid to Hmrc, in the end of the day a person was livi…See more
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· Reply · 18 January at 22:44

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … but if there were no earnings or trade in the period why would you need to worry about those five months?
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· Reply · 18 January at 22:47

Joanna Girul
Joanna Girul Someone has told me that when they moved to Hong Kong they haven’t paid tax for a year (husband was only working for the UK company) and it really badly affected the wife pension (she wasn’t working and had not paid any tax in the UK at the time)…I guess that inspired me to overthink the whole situation.
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· Reply · 18 January at 22:54

Jason Blackman
Jason Blackman … if it worries you then seek some advice but certainly there’s no problem as far as HMRC is concerned…
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· Reply · 18 January at 22:56

Joanna Girul
Joanna Girul Thank you Jason. I often speculate in my mind about theoretical situations or questions friends asked me so appreciate you not giving up on my questions. 😉 Have a good night.
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· 18 January at 23:02

Natasha Everard

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Rin Tadmuang Mawer
Rin Tadmuang Mawer Hi, quick Q. The company make a loss due to fraud , for SA return is their earnings at £0???
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· Reply · 18 January at 22:24

Rin Tadmuang Mawer
Rin Tadmuang Mawer Not sure if you already off line