Sending your Self Assessment tax return

Millions of self-assessment taxpayers who have left their tax returns to the last minute are rushing to file online by Thursday night to avoid being hit by hefty fines.

HM Revenue & Customs said that 2.5m tax returns, of the 8.1m expected in total, remain outstanding. A large portion of these are likely to be filed on the last possible day.

However, accountants warn that more than 1m people will miss the midnight deadline, resulting in an automatic £100 fine, even if they do not owe any tax. Last year, HMRC issued fines of more than £600m by the end of June.

31 January deadline for online tax returns

You must send your online Self Assessment tax return by midnight on Thursday 31 January 2013.

The deadline is only later than 31 January if HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) sent you the letter, telling you to complete a tax return, after 31 October 2012. In this case you'll have three months from the date of the letter.

If your online tax return is late, you'll have to pay a penalty. You can read more about penalties below in the section 'What happens if you miss the tax return deadline'.

Paying your tax

You must pay any amount due for 2011-12 by 31 January 2013. The payment deadline is the same whether you send a paper or an online tax return.

HMRC recommends that you make your Self Assessment payments electronically. It's safe and secure and provides certainty about when your payment will reach HMRC.

When you make a payment, be sure to use the right reference number. It's called a Unique Taxpayer Reference or UTR. For example 1234567890K.

What happens if you miss the tax return deadline

If you miss the 31 January deadline for online tax returns, you will have to pay a penalty.

The penalty is £100. You'll still have to pay this even if

• your tax return is just a day late
• you have no tax to pay
• you pay all the tax you owe before 31 January 2013

The longer you delay, the more you'll have to pay. There are additional penalties when your tax return is three, six and twelve months late. Together these could add up to a penalty of £1,600 or more, so make sure you get your tax return in on time.

Don’t send a paper tax return now - the deadline was 31 October 2012. You'll have to pay a £100 penalty straight away if you do and the daily penalties above will start even earlier. Send it online instead.

If you would like to find out more please contact us using grant@in2matrix.com for more information.

The information is intended to provide information only and reflects our understanding of legislation at the time of writing. Before making any decision, we suggest you take professional financial advice.

State pension shake-up

State pension shake-up

A new state pension system will pay more in 2017, but many – especially women – will be caught out by the small print.

The biggest shake-up of pensions for a generation has left thousands of women concerned that they will lose out on valuable pension benefits – even though the reforms were supposed to create a simpler and fairer system.

It isn't just women who are worried that they will now have to pay more to get a full pension. Many baby boomers, who are just a couple of years away from retirement, have been told they will need an additional five years' National Insurance contributions if they want to get the new higher state pension – worth £144 a week – in full.

Those who have taken early retirement or been made redundant in their fifties, or who have moved into part-time work, may struggle to make these additional payments, particularly as those worst hit need to make up five years' of NI payments but are just four years from retirement.

Almost half a million women born in the early Fifties have been at the sharp end of almost every pension change in recent years. Plans to raise the pension age for women from 60 to 65 were first put in place in 1995, with the ages being equalised by 2020. But in 2010 the Government speeded up this timetable, meaning that up to 400,000 women who were already in their fifties saw their retirement age pushed back again, with some facing a further 18-month delay.

But those who are due to retire after 2017 can also face problems. As stated above, some will not have sufficient National Insurance contributions (NICs) to get the full £144-a-week payment.

Currently people need 30 years of NICs to qualify for the full basic state pension. This will rise to 35 years when the new pension is introduced. Many people have taken early retirement on the assumption they have paid sufficient NICs to qualify for a full state pension. This is not now the case.

For those who can afford it, making additional NICs can be a cost-effective way to boost your state pension. Voluntary NICs are currently £13.25 a week, or £698 for the year. The Treasury reviews NI rates on an annual basis, so previous years may be cheaper. You would only need to live for four years after retirement to recoup your money,

This is, of course, based on the current state pension, so arguably becomes even better value for those retiring after 2017. The cost of buying back years was likely to rise to reflect the higher benefit attached. Currently you can use voluntary NICs to buy up to six years' worth of benefits. However, the Government will extend this, so those retiring after April 2017 will have until 2023 to buy back years between 2006 and 2016.

Another option is to register as self-employed and opt to pay "Class 2" contributions. These are considerably cheaper (currently £2.65 a week) but also count towards your NI record. However, they are payable for the current year and can't be used retrospectively.

Those with just 30 years of NICs should remember that, although they won't get the full single-tier pension, they should still get around £123 a week, which is more than a full pension (£107 a week) under the current rules.

If you would like to find out more please contact us using grant@in2matrix.com for more information.

The information is intended to provide information only and reflects our understanding of legislation at the time of writing. Before making any decision, we suggest you take professional financial advice.

Pension Reform & SME's What is it, How Does it Affect Me and What Do I Have to Do?

Over the last couple of years, you may have heard the words ‘Pension Reform’ and ‘Auto Enrolment’, but like many of the UK employers; you may still be wondering ‘How will this impact on my business and its employees?’. This information has been developed especially for SME’s to simply explain all you need to know as well as to provide an overview of what you need to do as an employer to prepare for the upcoming reform.

In2Matrix New Joiner – Davor Lalic

On 2 April 2012, Davor Lalic will join In2Matrix as the Head of
International  Consulting. Davor will be based at the In2Matrix office in London.

Davor will be advising multinational clients on a wide range of strategic and operational international employee benefits issues. He will have responsibility for In2Matrix's consulting division, advising on multinational risk benefit financing (captive, pooling and Pan?European risk solutions),  but also offering other employee benefits consulting services and co-ordinating related local broking services.

Having graduated In Germany with an Advanced Diploma in Insurance, Davor started his career 15 years ago as Group Underwriter for Life, Disability and Pensions. In the UK, Davor was working as a Senior Consultant at Willis and most recently at Mercer specializing in multinational pooling and reinsurance to captive solutions. He has been involved in a wide range of international and local work, with a particular focus on global benefits strategy and alternative risk financing. We look forward to working with Davor and wish him every success.

2012 UK Budget Announcements

This year marks the commencement of compulsory pension's provision for employers, clearly in these challenging economic times the additional administrative and financial burdens are a headache for many firms. It is, therefore, pleasing that in the 2012 budget George Osborne has decided to leave the current pension tax regime intact.

The upper rate of Income Tax will be reduced to 45% from 6 April 2013, this creates an opportunity for high earners who have earnings in excess of £150,000 in the current tax year to benefit from 50% tax relief. For those who have not made any pension provision it is possible through careful planning to fund £200,000 into a pension plan before April 2013 by means of “carry forward”.

In2Matrix (UK) Ltd Teams Up with Jargon Free Benefits

In2Matrix (UK) Ltd is delighted to have teamed up with Jargon Free Benefits to provide the market leading benefits platform solution. Jargon Free Benefits has received an industry-leading position in the e-excellence ratings for 2011.

HRH Prince Michael of Kent Presents RBCC Gold Members Certificate to In2Matrix

Today, the  Patron of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce (RBCC), his Royal Highness the Prince Michael of Kent , presented the In2Matrix CEO and Chairman, Mr Gerard Baltazar, with the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce gold members certificate. 

Margot Clarenbeek Appointed as Group’s Chief Operating Officer

In2Matrix is pleased to announce appointment of Margot Clarenbeek as the Group’s Chief Operating Officer. Margot will be responsible for managing and overseeing the financial and business planning functions, human resources and the Group’s risk management and legal activities.

Employers Key Priorities

According to the Employee Benefits/ Alexander Forbes Benefits Research 2011, the key priorities for employers in the next 12 months include getting staff appreciation of their benefits package which accounted for 66%. Next was increasing staff perception of the value