Very Incomplete Records

lmiddleham

Hi

I do the accounts for a friend who did work as a personal trainer.

He stopped working self employed in about October and is now unemployed.

All he has for records this tax year is a diary which will have his sales information from.
He has no bank statements for this period without paying for copies but I know from previous years
trade how much his gym rental will have cost him and I can estimate how much his phone bill and other expenses are.

Am I OK to complete a Self Assessment on this very limited data? The numbers involved are small and he won't owe or be owed any tax so HMRC shouldn't have a concern either way.

Thanks for your help.

T.C.

He needs to make attempts to get the information, ie he will need to pay for copies of bank statements, copies of phone bills etc. HMRC would expect to see at least this much information. Guessing, on his part, is not enough.

stevo5678

Bank statements will be useful assuming he used an account for all his business activities particularly banking his income. If not then it will only be part of the picture if he did then this would be essential in this instance.

(Assuming you don't have all the info on the bank statements) If you know exactly how many clients he had and how much they paid then you are good on the income front. He will then need to confirm with the gym how much the rent was that year. Anything else without receipts is guessing so I would avoid providing for much at all apart from things which can be supported such as phone, use of home, insurance etc etc.

Although bank statements are very handy they are not compulsory, what is compulsory is that you have supporting documentation to verify your income and expenses.