Tax Returns? What Tax Returns?

So, 31st January has been and gone. The first year of filing online and oh what a joy!

In years gone by, The Smart Frog has hopped down to the local tax office before midnight on 31st January, frantically shoving last-minute Tax Returns through the already-jammed tax office letter-box. Not this year though. Oh no. This year went by without hitch, all thanks to the seemingly effortless way that the HMRC online filing system has worked. Credit where credit's due - it's fabulous and never once let us down. There are a small handful of clients for whom we just couldn't submit their Returns, but these are those who presented their papers to us at the 11th hour and they understood that they might be late.

Only a week has gone by since the Tax Return deadline, yet it seems like a distant memory. Work which was put on hold during January has surfaced to bite us all on our tail-less bums. We're not complaining, though. Without it we would be sitting here twiddling our webbed-fingers wondering what to do with ourselves - or we would were it not for Mr Taxman setting constant deadlines for us to plan for; the next big one is obviously the end of the tax year (5th April) where tax planning keeps us occupied. Can't wait.

Until then, The Smart Frog team have noticed a large increase in queries recently from clients about 'Residence'. It seems that many are off to sunnier climes and want to know how it affects their tax position in the UK (it does, by the way, greatly affect it). Is this a knee-jerk effect because of the recent spate of arctic weather, or to get away from the sliding economy? With the £ faring badly against the Euro I am not sure that taking time out in Europe will have the desired financial effect, but I can imagine the warmer climate will ease the burden somewhat. Personally, I like to stay hidden from the sun - it has a nasty effect of turning my lovely green skin a light shade of yellow. Yuck!