EXTRACTS FROM ACCOUNTS
Under this section they want a start and end date, is this simply the start date of my business and the 31st of December as the end date?
Although you can choose your own end date within 12 months of the start date, for simplicity sake 31 Dec is probably best
Sales / Receipts / Turnover
This I assume is the overall money I have made in the timeframe - simple as that?
The total value of the sales you had, not the profit you made.
Receipts from Government Agencies (GMS etc.)
Would this include the social welfare money I still get as part of BTWEA? If not, should that money need to be included anywhere on the form?
The BTWEA is not taxable.
- I assume in that case this should also be left blank?
You should not leave this blank. It equals the sales figures in your case as you have no purchases.
Capital Account and Balance Sheet Items
There is a section in here titled
Cash / Bank (Debit) - (in the helpsheet it is described as follows: "this is cash on hand or in a bank. It should include all deposit accounts, savings
accounts, current accounts, Credit Union accounts, Building Society accounts, etc")
I don't really understand what they're looking for me to put in this field.
This is still the extracts from the accounts of the business, not your personal information.
Ideally you should have a separate business bank account and the balance on that alone goes here.
If you have used a personal account for the business, then the best way to deal with that messy situation is that its the balance within the personal account which relates to the business.
The extracts from the accounts should balance, so that the profits less drawings equal the bank balance, (assuming no other assets).
I must take issue slightly with Steven above. If you have prepared accounts then a few hundred euros for a tax return may be a good idea. However it seems from your questions that you have not prepared accounts, for an accountant to do that properly will cost money before they ever look at the tax return.
Have you prepared accounts using an accounts package, have you got a trial balance.