Tax return fail and finance co-working sessions

Have you submitted your tax return this week?

I’m ashamed to admit it, but I submitted my tax return on 31st January this year - the deadline for submission. I wasn’t late, I was on time but I know I made a mistake not filing it sooner.

I kept my records in order and did everything I needed to prepare but just kept putting it off. I like to think I’m pretty organised and I stay on top of my finances, so why didn’t I submit it earlier?

Well my main excuse is that this last year has been a challenging one and for many reasons I can’t go into right now, my tax return just wasn’t a priority. I feel awful saying that and as a result of doing my self assessment late in the day, the consequence is that I’ve paid more tax than I’d have liked. It’s not lost on me that had I have taken control earlier I might have have had a chance to change the outcome slightly.

It is what it is, but I have made the commitment to myself to NEVER do it like this again. So I’m sat here with 65 days until the end of the financial year with the intention to make sure things are different for my 2023/24 tax return. With 2 months to go, there are still changes that can be made that will impact my tax liability, because who wants to pay more tax than they have to?! So my lesson is learnt and for 23/24 I am committing to prepare my return early - yes, you heard that right - early, as in before the tax year ends! This way I can see what my current tax liability is and have plenty of time to explore any ways that I can be smarter with my money. Not to mention I certainly won’t miss the last minute scurrying around to gather all my expenses.

I listened to a podcast earlier this week and the speaker was talking about 3 L’s - Learn, Launch and Love and he was recommending that everyone launches something each year of their life - feels like a big ask but when I reflected on it we’re all launching things all the time, a new job, a DIY project, a new pet or launching a new phase of our life like becoming a parent. The last two years I’ve worked on and launched the books I’ve edited and also had a baby which I guess you could call a launch! I realised that for 2024 I haven’t planned any kind of launch and it got me thinking of an idea that’s been bubbling away in my mind for a while - a financial admin virtual co-working group.

I’ve found co-working sessions super useful for getting things done - in case you don’t know what I mean - they are online zoom sessions where a small group get together to work alongside each other through any tasks they have. I started attending these with Sara Tasker who’s podcast Letters to a hopeful creative I listened to years ago - not sure how I stumbled upon the podcast but I’m glad I did, despite not being very creative at all! When the opportunity came up to join co-working sessions with Sara, I was all in - I’m probably the least creative person in the virtual room but for some reason it just works for me. These sessions got me thinking whether a similar thing could be useful for finance and so I want to give it a try - a co-working session to prepare early for our tax return (or any other financial task you might have). I’ll be glad of some company to hold myself accountable and hopefully others might find it useful.

If you’d like to join a session like this, leave your email in the box below and I’ll be able to send you a link once I set something up. Hope you can make it!