Over the years I have learned there are many reasons why people are disorganised. Sometimes it is just their personalities – the rise of ADHD diagnoses must come as no surprise to any financial planner. Sometimes the problem is life. Crises can strike unexpectedly, sending someone who normally has everything in order into disarray.
Exhortations to spring-clean your finances can be counterproductive. The guilt of not having done a long list of jobs you meant to do can make it hard to start. Bigger priorities – like caring for an ill loved one – must often take priority.
Perhaps surprisingly, HMRC is remarkably tolerant about this. Yes, it will fine you £100 if you failed to file your tax return by the end of January. But it will also listen to reasonable excuses – and, more helpfully, it enables you to correct many things later to reduce your tax bill. Lots of entitlements are easily forgotten.
Pension tax relief
When you make a pension contribution from taxed income the government adds back the tax you paid. It does this automatically for basic-rate taxpayers. So a basic-rate taxpayer making a contribution of £4,000 into their pension would see it lifted by 25%, to £5,000. If this is confusing – the basic rate of tax is 20%, after all – remember that the government is reinstating the tax you paid. Someone who has paid the basic rate of tax and is left with £4,000 earned £5,000 before tax.
The government does the same if you are a higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayer.
You have to claim back the difference between the basic 20% rate and the 40% or 45% you paid. (You need not put this extra money into your pension – many people just offset it against their tax bill.) You can reclaim tax deductions on pension contributions that you have paid in the past four years. Many people forget this. I have had some clients who have saved thousands by claiming back tax relief from previous years.
Pension contributions
Under what are confusingly known as “carry forward” rules, you can take advantage of unused pension allowances from the previous three tax years. This is particularly helpful to those who receive a big bonus one year and had previous unused allowances, but it can also benefit those who missed making contributions in past years and now bump up against contribution limits – which can be much less for high earners than the typical £40,000 allowance.
Charity donations
The government’s approach to Gift-Aided charity donations is similar to its approach to pensions. It automatically gives the charity you donate to the basic rate tax you have paid – which equates to a 25% uplift again – as long as you have completed a Gift Aid form. Higher-rate and additional-rate taxpayers can claim back the difference in tax for themselves. It can take several hours to round up all the records, but it is well worth it for those who are generous – helping them pay less tax or giving them more money to give away. You can enjoy tax relief on donations from the four previous years. And even if you are just a basic rate taxpayer, if you have not got round to completing a Gift Aid declaration, when you do, you can include all donations from the past four years so that at least the charity benefits.
Tax relief for job expenses
During the 2020/21 and 2021/22 tax years when Covid was forcing workplaces to close, you could claim back the tax back on expenses incurred working from home even if your employer had an office. You could also claim for the whole year – in the 20/21 tax year it is £6 a week (the previous year £4 a week) multiplied by your relevant income tax rate, with no evidence required, or more if you have all the receipts.
A growing number of people now work from home all or part of the week. If your employer does not have an office or you have to live a long way from it (lifestyle choices don’t count) you can claim gas and electricity for your work area at home and business phone calls. There is a long list of other work things that can be claimed for, including equipment, specialist clothing and tools, vehicle usage (up to 45p a mile), travel and overnight expenses, professional fees and subscriptions to approved professional bodies or learned societies that are relevant to your job. The government offers clear guidance on what you can claim and how to get a refund. Most importantly, you have four years from the end of the tax year in which you paid the expenses to do so.
Loss relief
You can offset “allowable losses” against capital gains tax liabilities. This might be losses on the disposal of an investment asset that is outside a pension or ISA wrapper. The definition of what is allowable can be complex, and you may need to ask your adviser or accountant, but at least you have up to four years after the end of the tax year that you disposed of the asset to declare the losses. And at the moment those losses can be carried forward indefinitely to be offset against future gains.
Reassurance
To change a return you have already submitted you will need to write to HMRC – if you filed online you can make the amends online too.
Tax laws are subject to change; the rules are not simple and taxation varies depending on your individual situation, yet despite this our tax system is also remarkably flexible. Your tax return has to be right, but if you rushed to get it completed and failed to claim all your entitlements there is a good chance you can correct it.
Nathan Valbonesi is a chartered financial planner and leads the investment and wealth advice team at Weatherbys Private Bank.
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*Featured on the Financial Times online on 9th February 2023: Need to Know . . . What if I missed the tax return deadline?_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Tax laws are subject to change and taxation will vary depending on individual circumstances.