Guidance

Information from your accounts 2021 (HS229)

Updated 6 April 2024

This helpsheet helps you to fill in the:

• self-employment (full) pages
• trading pages of the Partnership Tax Return

If you received any payments under any Covid Support Schemes, they have to be taken into account.

It does not give guidance on which expenses are allowable for tax purposes. If you need advice on this topic please read Helpsheet 222 ‘How to calculate your taxable profits’.

The box numbers mentioned in this helpsheet are references to boxes in the Self-employment (full) pages. The box numbers on the trading pages of the Partnership Tax Return are given in brackets after the box numbers of the Self-employment (full) pages. Look up the box numbers in the notes to the Self-employment (full) pages and the Partnership Tax Return Guide for more information.

What this helpsheet covers

If you have business accounts, and your annual turnover, including any payments received under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), that is, all the money earned in your business before deducting business expenses) is £85,000 or more for a full year, you must complete the Self-employment (full) pages. If your business accounts do not include a balance sheet, do not fill in boxes 83 to 99 on page SEF 5.

If your business is a partnership, you should refer to page PTRG 8 of the Partnership Tax Return Guide for more guidance on which boxes you need to complete. If your business profits are calculated using the cash basis, you should refer to Helpsheet 222 ‘How to calculate your taxable profits’ for more guidance.

This helpsheet provides guidance on how to fill in the boxes from the figures in your accounts and answers some of the more common questions that arise from doing this. The Self-employment (full) notes and the Partnership Tax Return Guide also give information to help you complete the Self-employment pages and Partnership Tax Return.

What is ‘Standard Accounts Information’ (SAI)

SAI is a self-contained summary of your accounts which you complete as part of your tax return. It provides a comprehensive summary of your trading and profit and loss account or your income and expenditure account, and your balance sheet. Also, it shows what adjustments you have made to arrive at your profit for tax purposes.

What if there are no accounts

If you intend not to have accounts prepared, the notes to the Self-employment (full) pages provide guidance to help you calculate your business profit, the adjustments you may need to make for tax purposes and how to fill in the SAI boxes.

You must keep records of all your business transactions.

Submitting your accounts and tax calculations

You’re no longer required to submit business accounts, or tax calculations based on them, with your tax return unless you’re a partnership with a turnover of more than £15 million.

Normally the SAI gives all the information we need to know about your business for the purpose of deciding whether to make an enquiry into your tax return.

What if there are things to draw attention to

For most businesses this information will allow you to present a full and fair picture of your business for tax purposes. If there are any points needing further explanation, enter details in the ‘Any other information’ box, box 103, of the Self-employment (full) pages (or the ‘Additional information’ box, box 3.116, of the Partnership Tax Return).

In some larger or more complex businesses, additional information given in the return may not be enough to provide a means of adequate disclosure. The submission of further information, including perhaps accounts and supporting calculations, may be considered necessary. For example, where:

• a large business has substantial turnover
• a business is complex (perhaps because it’s in a highly specialised trade)
• accounts or calculations are needed for a proper understanding of the figures

Where to start

As well as your accounts you may find it useful to have your business records available when you complete the SAI section of your tax return.

There are no hard and fast rules, but you should be consistent from one year to the next. It will help you next year if you keep a note of which accounts figures you enter in which SAI boxes.

The purpose of filling in these boxes is to present the accounts information as clearly and informatively as the standard format allows.

Filling in the boxes

Here are some suggestions for completing page SEF 2 of the Self-employment (full) pages (page 4 of the Partnership Tax Return).

Unless your accounts are very simple, or they have been drawn up using SAI headings, it’s probably best not to write any figures in the Self-employment (full) pages until you’re sure of the final amounts to put in each box.

Start by transferring the business turnover, including any payments received under the Self-Employment Income Support scheme (SEISS), shown in your accounts to box 15 (box 3.29).

Go through the expenses shown in your accounts and note against each one the number of the box in which you think it should be entered. If, for whatever reason, an expense causes difficulty, leave it initially and go on to the next item.

Once you have looked at every item in the accounts, go back to the ones for which you could not make an immediate decision. The notes that follow should help you to decide what to do.

Make sure that every figure from your accounts is included somewhere in the SAI boxes, and included only once.

What to do if there are expenses in the accounts that are not specified in the Self-employment (full) pages

The general guidance explains what each box is broadly intended to include and gives some examples of common types of expense which are usually appropriate to each. But inevitably there will be some expenses that the SAI format does not readily accommodate. In these cases you will have to judge how best to present your figures.

Some types of expense might be included under alternative SAI headings depending on the type of business and the precise nature of that expense. But whichever treatment you adopt, you should be consistent from one year to the next.

If the expense is a one-off or of unusual nature or if you want, for any reason, to draw particular attention to it or to the tax treatment you have adopted, give details in the ‘Any other information’ box, box 103 of the Self-employment (full) pages (or the ‘Additional information’ box, box 3.116 of the Partnership Tax Return).

If there’s no suitable heading or the amounts involved are immaterial, use the ‘Other business expenses’ box, box 30 (box 3.63).

Do not change the descriptions printed on the tax return. Use the ‘Any other information’ box, box 103 (box 3.116) if you need to write anything outside the boxes.

What should be included under ‘Other business expenses’

If the expenses you include here are material by reference to the total amount of business expenses, consider the need to explain what’s included by making a note in the ‘Any other information’ box in order to make your figures clear.

There’s no precise definition of what is or isn’t material, but as a general rule, if the inclusion or exclusion of an item might affect judgements that we, or anyone else who uses the information in your tax return, might make, the item should be considered as material.

Avoiding unnecessary use of the ‘Other business expenses’ box, and explaining the main items you have included, may help to avoid enquiries being made into your tax return.

What to do if accounts include as a single item expenses that may need to be shown separately in the Self-employment (full) pages

If the expenses are virtually all of one type, there’s no objection to categorising the whole expense under the main heading. For example, your accounts may include an entry for ‘Bank charges and interest’ that consists almost entirely of bank charges. If so, put the whole amount in box 26 (box 3.61).

But you should divide the expenses between different headings if the amounts involved are material, or it would be misleading if they were all included under one heading. For example, if your accounts include a single entry for ‘Travel and entertainment’ you should distinguish the amount of the entertainment expenses, include it in the entry in box 24 (box 3.57) and make sure this is disallowed for tax by entering the disallowable part in box 39 (box 3.39). The remainder of the expenses relating to travel costs should be entered in box 20 (box 3.56), and any disallowable part of that expense, for example private travel costs, should be shown in box 35 (box 3.38).

Consider keeping these amounts separate when the next accounts are prepared.

In cases where the taxable profit or loss is not affected and the amounts involved are not material by reference to the total expenditure, we would not normally object if you decide to estimate the split between the SAI boxes.

Will wrong entries be penalised

In many cases there will be an element of choice in how you complete the SAI boxes and there will be no right or wrong answer.

But you must take reasonable care to make sure that your tax return is completed accurately. Errors arising from careless or deliberate conduct that give rise to a loss of tax will be subject to penalties.

Examples

We have provided examples to show you which boxes on the Self-employment (full) pages (or pages 4 and 5 of the Partnership Tax Return) you may want to use to provide SAI.

See Example 1 – Jack’s Snacks which gives details from the trading and profit and loss account and balance sheet of a snack bar.

See Example 2 – Harry Cooper Business Services which deals with a business. A balance sheet was not drawn up, so there’s no need to fill in boxes 83 to 99 in the Self-employment (full) pages (boxes 3.99 to 3.115).

In both examples, the business does not calculate profits using the cash basis. If your business profits are calculated using the cash basis, you should refer to Helpsheet 222 How to calculate your taxable profits for more guidance.

Contact

Online forms, phone numbers and addresses for advice on Self Assessment.