Using the tax return for tax planning

It is tax return season and many practitioners are busy with clients who promise faithfully every year that they will get the information in earlier than January. There is a temptation once the tax return is filed to give a huge sigh of relief get the billing done and go on an overdue and well deserved skiing holiday.

The tax return however is an extremely useful document as a starting point for tax planning. Therefore given that there are only just over two months until the end of the 2024-25 tax year it is worthwhile looking at this document again but with a view to planning rather than just compliance.

Payments on account

The challenge of payments on account is explaining to clients why their tax bill for 31 January includes a payment towards the current tax year liability 2024-25. I tend to explain it...