17 Jul What information does my accountant need at year-end?
One of the most popular questions we’re asked by our clients’ is “What information do you need from me?” when they reach the end of their financial or tax year.
Whether you operate as a sole trader or limited company, many of the records required will be fairly similar. You will need to provide full details of your business income and expenses so that the business profit can be calculated. Here is our simple checklist and the documents typically required:
- petty cash records
- bank statements for your business accounts
- cheque books (if you’re still writing cheques!)
- stock value
- purchase invoices and receipts
- sales income records
- payroll records
- credit card statements
- finance agreements
- loan statements
- any other expenditure that wasn’t paid directly through the business
- assets and equipment purchased during the year
- assets that were sold, scrapped or disposed of during the year
- copies of VAT returns submitted during the year
- mileage records
- dividends paid to the shareholders or drawings paid
If you’ve prepared your own books for the year or you have your own bookkeeper who has done this for you, we won’t necessarily need all of the above documents. However, initially, we will require access to your online accounting system (if you have one) or your completed and reconciled accounts including trial balance, profit and loss and balance sheet. We will also need your payroll records and copies of VAT returns submitted, if applicable.
Personal information
We have a personal tax organiser available each year which acts as a useful checklist to understand what needs to be reported on your self assessment tax return. The list below indicates information typically required:
- P45 from your employment if you left a job during the tax year
- P60 from your employment if you continued to be employed during the tax year
- P11d from your employment
- Rental income – a summary of your rental income and expenses if you rent out property
- Details of any savings income
- Details of any pension income
- Details of any capital gains (sale and purchase of assets such as shares, antiques, property etc)
You can supply all of the above information electronically. Please note the above lists are not exhaustive and your individual circumstances need to be considered as to what information is relevant.