It’s January, it’s cold, Christmas is long gone and even the tub of Roses in the staff room is dangerously close to being empty – you can’t be bothered. On top of that you still have a load of client self-assessment tax returns to complete which are the absolute worst and anyone who says otherwise is either a liar or winding you up.  

Along with January blues comes the January dues, with the Self-Assessment Tax Return deadline set for the 31st of January 2023. Sometimes there is a second payment deadline on the 31st of July, but this is only if you make advance payments (known as “payments on account”) towards your bill. 

What happens if you miss the deadline?  

It’s simple – each tax return that is submitted late will incur a big fat penalty of £100, assuming it is submitted within 3 months of the deadline. And who will face that payment? No, it’s not you - but that doesn’t mean you won’t face the music. If your clients receive a late fine after employing you to complete their return, you might just wish that £100 fine came to your inbox. 

If it goes over three months, then the fine will increase and your clients will have to pay more. They’ll also have to pay more if the tax bill is paid late, and they’ll be charged interest on late payments too. And trust us, if your clients weren’t angry that you missed the first deadline, they’ll certainly let you have it this time. 

Keep your clients happy with on-time submissions 

Believe it or not, but getting all your submissions in on time doesn’t have to be difficult – the Self Assessment tax return can be submitted early, at any time of the year. And lucky for you, to make the process even quicker, there is a nifty bit of software that the folks over at BTC have designed that will take away some of the most painful aspects of doing them. It’s been designed specifically for Accounting, Finance and Tax professionals who prepare multiple tax returns for UK Individuals, Partners and Trusts. 

BTCSoftware offers many time saving features such as automatically completing date fields, two-way integrations with bookkeeping providers, and HMRC integration which allows you to pre-populate your tax returns with data already held by other systems and HMRC. It automatically links between partners in the Individual and Trust tax returns meaning you won’t get caught out for someone else’s tardiness. They’ll send you built-in reminders when things are due to minimise the risk of late penalties and the tax return software has a built-in Capital Allowance Calculator which makes claiming loans quick and easy. 

Sounds too good to be true? Well, if you still don’t believe us, what's the harm in heading over to BTCSoftware by Bright and downloading a free trial or booking a free demo? With the deadline looming, it could save you some precious time. Go on, you deserve it.