So I am trying to figure out how the tax/self assessment stuff works as I am thinking about starting a company.

I see that tax years run from April to april and that all returns must be filed by end of January....

So what does one do with the accounts between Jan and April? If I form a company now I am making proffit in this accounting year but it won't be accounted for in this years books because the filing deadline has passed... So How do I deal with this?

Why is the whole thing so damned confusing!?

[Edited on 16/2/16 by tegwin]

For self assessment you submit last years accounts by end of Jan. ie I have just submitted mine for the 2014/2015 year.

IIRC companies can choose their year end date....but I don't have a company. Just me.

Ok, so for arguments sake if I started trading on the 1st of June 2015 my first tax return deadline (for the tax year April 2015-2016) would actually be Jan 2017?

And thank you for the reply, im reading the gov website and going round in circles with the weirdly structured information with no actual answers...

[Edited on 16/2/16 by tegwin]

Your tax year runs from the date you form the company mine runs may to June.

Personnel tax is paid in January and again in July.

Corporation tax is paid 8 months after year end so mine is paid in the following march.

As said you can choose align with the April tax year if you wish.

An accountant will advise you better.

I use an accountant to do my tax return. My year runs from June to April and the return is due the following February.

My accountant is an ex tax inspector so she is the god to me, she goes through the records with me at the end of the year and I don't understand any of it...

Last April I incurred an unexpected bit of income tax which is being collected this Friday the 19th, 10 months later...

All I wish is I had gone to ltd donkeys years ago....

Advice as above, get a good accountant. Save all of your receipts, list each month on a sheet of paper together with any income and present this to your accountant annually, if they are any good, like mine, the savings they make for you cover their costs.

The topic is about tax, the thread is about tax. Nothing off topic here.

As above - find a decent accountant. When I was self-employed I did all the book-keeping (filing receipts and cheque stubs, keeping a ledger*, etc.) so all the accountant had to do was check my books, write reports and make sure I didn't pay more than I had to. He also kept me out of disfavour with the VAT inspectors - if HMRC respect the accountant then they rarely cause his clients any grief. If you do everything yourself, or use a dodgy accountant, then your chances of a HMRC check are much higher. You do not want to upset HMRC...

* "Keeping a ledger" meant writing down income and expenditure in reasonably decent accounting software (I used Quicken, but that's now obsolete) and presenting reports periodically to the accountant, and monthly to the VAT inspectors. My accountant could also have done my books, but his bill would have been far higher.

That sounds sensible thanks for tips chaps.

The way things are going in barely going to turn any profit atall this year but figure I had better jump through the paperwork hurdles anyway!

Need to figure out if sole trader or ltd is the way to go... Sole looks like less paperwork but les flexible if things grow!

Living in Plymouth, I went on a start up course, how to get grants etc. One day of that course was how to manage accounts, it was worth going ! 2 years in I hit the VAT ceiling, I was earning more then I ever dreamed of. Had to get an accountant then. As I slowed back and became part time consultancy, I manage my own accounts now, easy peasy, never had a bad visit from the inland revenue or the HMRC. My son has an accountant that charges a direct debit fee, he never pays income tax because of start up allowances etc. he is now well on his way, went on the same course. Think it was called Enterprise Plymouth. It was in the old Dockyard training centre and the office was in the Stoke Enterprise park.

Now thats not a bad idea, I might look into what courses and support are available.

Had a look at the new enterprise allowance but it seems one has to have been claiming job seekers allowance or similar in order to qualify.... i will continue my readings

When I started up I went to a talk given by Customs & Excise about how to manage VAT, such as what paperwork you have to send, and how often. Very informative, free, and I picked up a huge amount of extra info as well. Made keeping records so much easier as I understood the reason for the assorted reports my book-keeping software could produce - very important as the Excise Men have more powers of entry, seizure, etc. than the Police so it's really worth keeping them sweet!

I don't know if HMRC still do courses like this but it's worth finding out, and definitely worth 1 or 2 hours of an evening.