31st January is approaching. This is the deadline for paying 14/15 tax due, payments on account and filing 14/15 tax returns.

If you have self-assessment income tax liabilities to pay, based on your personal self-assessment tax return, this will normally be due by 31st January following the end of the tax year concerned. You may also need to make payments on account for the following year and these will be in two instalments, by 31st January and by 31st July.

There are various methods which you can use to make your tax payments and the link below will take you to the HMRC web page that lists and describes these methods: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/selfassessment.htm

There are also links from this page to the HMRC online payment facility if you wish to pay with a debit card.

Your payment reference is the 10 digit UTR number shown on the front of your tax return (followed by a letter K).

HMRC will issue penalties and charge interest for late payment of tax due, so please ensure payment is made on time.

If you would like Cogent to prepare and file your Tax Return and you have not yet returned your completed Personal Tax Return Questionnaire, you need to send it to us now as a matter of urgency.

***Please ignore this if you have already sent us your questionnaire***

If you have a secure online portal, you should download a questionnaire for 2014 – 2015 by logging into the portal at https://secure.cogent-accountantsauth.co.uk/ using your username and password and clicking on Documents – Personal Taxes, otherwise please email tax@cogentaccountants.co.uk

If you cannot remember your password, please use the Forgot Password button on the login page. However, if you should experience further difficulty logging into your secure portal, please contact the Authorisations Department by email authorisations@cogentaccountants.co.uk or call them on 020 8952 2234.

Please then complete the questionnaire and return it together with any attachments to tax@cogentaccountants.co.uk

From January, our fee for preparing a basic tax return is £240 including VAT. More complicated tax returns will normally incur a further cost.

Please be aware that at this late stage, if we have yet to receive your tax return questionnaire and all other necessary information, we can no longer undertake to meet the 31st January filing deadline for you. However, we will of course make every effort to do so.

You are required to file a tax return if:

• you have been asked to file one by HMRC
• you have a tax liability for the year (e.g. higher tax rate or if you have income which has not been taxed at source)
• you have a new source of income that needs to be declared

Penalties for late filing of tax returns can be as much as £1,600, even when there is no tax due, so please ensure your tax return is filed on time, whether you ask Cogent to prepare it for you or you have made other arrangements.