You may ask why do you put yourself through this every year?

You know the deadline in advance, and you have a whole 10 months to get your income tax return done, so what is stopping you?

Now or later....For example, you're probably aware that when an invoice is raised it's usual to include it in Turnover. If the invoice is not paid by your year end, it will increase your Profits for tax purposes. Hopefully by the time the tax is due, normally 9 or 10 months after the year end, you've been paid so you're not losing out on cash flow.

However, you may not be aware that if as a shareholder in your SME company you rearrange your shareholdings by giving away shares to family non-spouse members or employees, tax can be due on you.

That doesn't make sense!

1. 4 Years - If you are in the first 4 years of your business and make a loss, you can use this loss to reduce your tax bill in the previous 3 years, such as from the job you had before you set up your business. You will receive a tax refund.

2. £5,725 - If your profits are lower than £5,725, you don't have to pay the annual £140 Class 2 NI, unless you need a credit towards your state pension. Ask for a repayment for earlier years.

3. £7,755 - If your profits are higher than £7,755, you will pay 9% Class 4 NI. This gets you no state benefits and effectively increases your tax rate from the 20% income tax rate to a total 29% tax rate.

Necessarily a muted Budget, as the Chancellor had little room for manoeuvre, but there were a couple of surprises to keep us interested!

National Insurance £2,000 Credit - from April 2014

Giving a £2,000 credit from April 2014 against employer's national insurance is a welcome initiative which may encourage small businesses to take on some staff.