QUESTION: Last year I started a small part time business as a reflexologist working from my home. I am concerned that I have not yet made any Tax Return.
ANSWER: HMRC have recently launched a new Health and Well Being Tax Plan which offers health professionals a limited time banded opportunity to bring their tax affairs up to date on very preferential terms.
This campaign specifically targets practitioners in physical therapy (for example physiotherapists, austiopaths, chiropractors), alternative medicine therapists (homeopathy, reflexology, acupuncture) and other therapies such as speech therapy and psychology.
The programme is not aimed at doctors and dentists who were targeted by a previous HMRC disclosure initiative or indeed Nurses or Social Workers.
You should act quickly as health professionals have until December 31 2013 to tell HMRC that they want to participate in the campaign and once this notification is made, you have until April 6 2014 to disclose and pay tax on previously undisclosed income.
HMRC also operates a voluntary disclosure helpline (0845 601 5041) for those who do not fall within the scope of their campaign but who have underpaid their tax and want to bring their affairs up to date.
* Paddy Harty (p.harty@fpmca.com) is senior tax partner at FPM Chartered Accountants (www. fpmca.com). The advice in this column is specific to the facts surrounding the question posed. Neither The Irish News nor the contributors accept any liability for any direct or indirect loss arising from any reliance placed on replies.