Self assessment done

[d-a-n]

Just filed my Self Assessment for 2013-2014 - anyone else had to grind through this (having an accountant is cheating!) or will you take the view of my kinda-father-in-law and thank me for paying for his pension!

[austinbob]

I cheat and have a tax accountant - a left over from my old self employed days. It costs me about £150 a year and he always gets back more from HMRC than I and SWMBO pay out.

[Dave95979]

yes dune mine last week online i hate paperwork

[talisman56]

For the tax returns I have to do for myself and my wife, I use a piece of software called Taxcalc. Costs £20-25 pa for the latest updates, etc but saves a whole lot of hassle getting the returns done manually...

[port perran]

Did mine about two weeks ago.
The worst bit is still to come - the payment !!
I just think about what I could buy with that money.

[talisman56]

They owed me about £320 and my wife owed them the princely sum of... £2!

[austinbob]

They owed me about £320 and my wife owed them the princely sum of... £2!

But did you get your £320 back.
I know HMRC get a lot of bad press but they have always paid me back what they owe me very quickly. No!! I don't work for HMRC and I hate paying taxes but I've never (so far) had a problem with them.
Why did I just say all that? I might just have made a lot of enemies!!

[cjdodd]

They owed me about £320 and my wife owed them the princely sum of... £2!

£320 worth of N gauge goodies coming your way soon then I dare say.

[Malc]

When I was self employed, I did get a £5500 tax rebate, but as I didn't know why, i didn't dare spend it all, in case they wanted it back! When I paid the cheque in to my account, the teller informed the manager, who was all over me like an old overcoat. He was talking investments and the like, until I explained where it had come from and why I was just paying it into the building society. I know they have targets to meet, but he was in like Flynn, very pushy.

[Agrippa]

A similar thing happened to me , I paid in a cheque from the taxman for a mere  £2,200
and the cashier ran off with it to show it to some suit . He gave me the spiel about what
are your plans for it etc etc. I said as soon as it cleared it would go into my building society
account. Soon as it went into the bs I got the same patter from them, offering me a free
financial check up etc etc. Not long after the bs (Dunfermline) went belly up and was bailed
out by the Nationwide whose local staff seem to be an idle bunch of halfwits.

[Bealman]

I did my own for 20 years here in Oz, and did alright, even though I was called in for an audit three times. However, it all became a bit complex over the years, so I have had an agent for almost as long. Not that there's much for her to do since I knocked off full time work.

[talisman56]

They owed me about £320 and my wife owed them the princely sum of... £2!

But did you get your £320 back.
I know HMRC get a lot of bad press but they have always paid me back what they owe me very quickly. No!! I don't work for HMRC and I hate paying taxes but I've never (so far) had a problem with them.
Why did I just say all that? I might just have made a lot of enemies!!

Yes, I put my return in a few months ago and the money I spent at TINGS came from the HMRC refund... 

[Jon898]

The Self Assessment pales into insignificance compared to the horrors of the US system.  As a minimum, you have to do two "returns" (Federal and State), and if you have moved or have worked out of your residence state you get to do more...one year I had to do Federal, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and New York City.  The Revenuers also chase you all over the world as long as you're a citizen...I think Russia is the only other country to do that.  I gather Boris Johnson is currently struggling with the US on that one.

It's got a little better over the years as companies now have put together computer software that leads you through the forms and checks your maths.  That at least avoids having to deal with so-called instructions (e.g. "enter the amount from line 8 of the worksheet for line 24 recalculated as necessary for AMT"  ) and have the life-shortening experience of putting a number down from a Schedule instead of a Worksheet and having your taxes owed exceed your income    .

Many years ago I had to file French returns.  Quite simple at the time (2 pages), but the last section asked some questions that appeared strange...did I have a private airplane, second home, bike over 750cc, horse, etc..  I asked a colleague what that was about and he explained that tax dodging was the national sport and if you had any of these "outward signs of wealth" and they were inconsistent with your declared income, you'd get hit with an extra tax bill on the assumption that you had to be hiding something.

[DELETED]

Spent a week going through mine as I only got notice to do one 2 weeks ago.  I tried phoning them ever since but just as I was about to give up, I finally managed to get through to them on the phone!!!

.....never understood why they sent me my application this year, after speaking to the very helpful lady this years return has been cancelled.  I don't qualify to do one -I haven't ever really needed to do one before, the HMRC or whatever already have my access to earnings / deductions.  My previous returns have been a joke -just look at my P60!!  It's nothing more complicated than that.

I just wish I could charge HMRC and the tax office for phone calls on hold.  They keep pointing me to the website but it changed 12+ plus months ago and I find the new .gov website format absolutely apawling compared to what it used to be.

I don't have any problem paying taxes, I do however have an issue with any taxes diverted to Holyrood but that's a separate issue.  I just wish the tax office / HMRC were more available to speak to!

[Rabbitaway]

 

Just paid £391 tonight - thanks to my wife continuing to claim child benefit over part of the tax year

They would have paid me £137 if it was not for this

Look at it another way the child benefit lose is equal to £2K top line!