By Kieran Isgin
Copyright manchestereveningnews
Self-employed workers who earn more than £1,000 only have until the end of this weekend to make an application. Failing to do so could lead to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issuing severe fines. Typically, people who are employed will have taxes taken out automatically from their wages through the PAYE system. However, those who are self-employed and registered as a ‘sole trader’ need to carry out their own Self Assessment to ensure they’re paying the correct amount of tax. In order to do this, people who are self-employed must be registered with HMRC. This is especially the case if you’ve never filed a Self Assessment before, as you could be at risk of facing a ‘failure to notify’ penalty. According to guidance from HMRC, the cut-off date for registering for a Self Assessment is Sunday, October 5. This means time is quickly running out to register for Self Assessment and avoid a penalty. Read below for a full breakdown on who needs to register for Self Assessment with HMRC. Government guidelines state that you must register for a Self Assessment if, during the last tax year, you were self-employed as a sole trader and earned more than £1,000 or if you were a partner in a business partnership. You will also need to complete a Self Assessment if you had to pay Capital Gains Tax when selling or ‘disposing’ of something that increased in value or paid the High Income Child Benefit Charge outside of PAYE. Some people with untaxed income may also need to submit a tax return. This can cover a range of circumstances, such as: If you fail to inform HMRC about tax they believe you owe, you may be hit with a failure to notify penalty. The amount of these penalties can vary significantly, depending on several factors, including whether HMRC believes you intentionally failed to notify them. As such, the penalties for failing to notify typically fall within a range, from 0% to 100% of the potential lost revenue. If you receive a failure to notify penalty, you can find comprehensive details of how HMRC calculates the penalty here.