We’ve all heard it before, don’t leave submitting your tax return to the last minute as it can be stressful and can risk fines.

Yet somehow so many do. We know that actually doing the preparatory work to get your paperwork together can often be the problem. It’s a task many dread and are happy to put off – it’s also time consuming and time’s in short supply.

With that in mind, we have made some suggestions for how you can get organised if you are thinking about submitting your tax return yourself, or preparing paperwork to send to your accountants:

• Set some time aside to start with, so if you sit down and get your paperwork together in one go it probably won’t take too long.
• Find and collect all relevant paperwork and information (if applicable) such as your business expenses, P60, P11D, P45, annual pension statements, interest earned on savings and accounts, gift aid payments, rental income from tenants and possible earned dividends.
• Gather your records from: National Insurance, Income Tax from Employments, Dividends Earnings, and Capital Gains Tax.
• Know that there are deadlines to submit it, and fines even for a day late, so try and plan in advance.
• Ensure you are claiming the right Tax Relief since there are two types: Paying reduced taxes from things as business expenses if self-employed, and tax relief for contributions for pensions. Although some tax allowances are automatically applied to your account, there are others which need to be claimed separately such as: dividends allowance, personal allowance, marriage allowance, pension tax relief, starting rate band, savings rate band, trading income allowance and investor tax relief.

Do you need any help? You might and you might not, but think about this well in advance. It will always be better for you if you aren’t looking for help at the last minute.

You can submit your tax return now (in fact any day after 6 April). But that doesn’t mean you need to pay the tax now, that’s not due until the following January. It is possible to submit your returns early, and to leave the tax bill to be paid for another future date which allows you more time to plan for it.

Would you like to know more about ways to prepare for taxes? Keep reading our weekly AIMS blog as we always provide top advice.