The Short Tax Return

In April 2005 we introduced a Short Tax Return (SA200) for people within self assessment who have more straightforward tax affairs.

Customers who will benefit from a Short Tax Return are those with simple tax affairs including, employees, pensioners and the self-employed with turnovers below £30,000.

Those who qualify will be sent the new four page paper form and accompanying guidance notes (Your guide to the Short Tax Return) to help them fill it in. There is no facility to self-calculate on the Short Return, but for those who want it, there is a two page ‘rough guide’ working sheet at the end of the guide.

The Short Return cannot be self- selected, is not available online, nor can it be ordered from our Orderline. We will send it to certain customers, based on the information given in their previous year’s Return (as long as we had this information on our systems when we prepared the following year’s issue - so the earlier you send in your return the better please).

The Short Tax Return has only one supplementary Page; Capital Gains. This has been specifically designed for the Short Return and it should be sent to us with your Capital Gains computation. The short Capital Gains page is available from the Orderline.

There are some important rules governing the use of the Short Tax Return:

• Those receiving it must decide, using the guide, whether they are, in fact, eligible to use it (people’s circumstances can change from year to year).
• A Short Tax Return issued to a specific person cannot be used by someone else.
• Recipients may chose not to use the Short Return and prefer to send a main Return (SA100), either online or on paper, instead.
• The Short Return is designed to be captured automatically, so to ensure the form is processed successfully please follow the instructions on the form carefully.

Online Tax Returns:

The Short Tax Return is not available online, however you may still file online using the main return application. This can be done using the HMRC `Online Tax Return for Self Assessment’ or Internet filing enabled third-party software.

The online Tax Return is effectively tailored to your own circumstances and will be almost as simple to complete as the paper Short Tax Return. Filing online has added benefits, for example, the calculations are done for you and, repayments are made much faster.

Help:

If you need any help completing your tax return or if you have received a Short Tax Return and have misplaced it, please ring your tax office. When the office is closed, you can ring the self assessment helpline for general advice.