equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
As far as I know, there's just one box. I sent a copy of my redundo letter in too, just so they knew how much it was.
Post your tax return angst here
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fakeplasticgirl
Keirleader
"hey FPG, welcome to the office, here are your 300 tax returns to file by christmas."
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
No way"hey FPG, welcome to the office, here are your 300 tax returns to file by christmas."
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Oh no, they definitely do. It's easier to hammer the little people for 60-70 quid here and there and make Vodafone pay their tax bill of £6bn.
fakeplasticgirl
Keirleader
smmudge
i know the smudge is true
It's easy really: if you don't understand the question, answer 'no' or leave it blank. 99% of my tax return answers are 'no' or left blank.
I got stuck at registering yourself for tax.
smmudge
i know the smudge is true
Oh yeah, actually getting to the tax return point is a bit of a palava. Once you've figured out which form to fill in to say you're earning money that's not PAYE, then you have to set up the online gateway bollocks, and sign up to the service to fill in your tax return online (luckily you only have to do this once though). Then if you're not earning that much you have to get the NIC2 exemption certificate.....although I don't know what happens with that when you're earning PAYE and making extra cash, that's my next mission.
Now I know why people pay good money for accountants.
I'm no business man but what I recommend self employed people on modest income do is do it online yourself
(1) pay an accountant to do it once
(2) next year do it yourself using the accountants template
(3) don't be over cautious and scared .. don't go backwards on your expenditure
You can carry a loss easily into the next year and no reason why not .. we're all skint
(1) pay an accountant to do it once
(2) next year do it yourself using the accountants template
(3) don't be over cautious and scared .. don't go backwards on your expenditure
You can carry a loss easily into the next year and no reason why not .. we're all skint
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
I've finally summoned up the courage to try again.
I think I've got everything right this time (although it's a bugger for having boxes that you seem to need to include stuff in then you find a note hidden under a rock somewhere saying "if X applies you don't need to bother with all those boxes you have just filled in")
It thinks they owe me about £ 650 which sounds a bit more like it.
I'll run through the whole damn thing again tomorrow and try and send it - I could do with the money!
I think I've got everything right this time (although it's a bugger for having boxes that you seem to need to include stuff in then you find a note hidden under a rock somewhere saying "if X applies you don't need to bother with all those boxes you have just filled in")
It thinks they owe me about £ 650 which sounds a bit more like it.
I'll run through the whole damn thing again tomorrow and try and send it - I could do with the money!
free spirit
more tea vicar?
update - turned out this post was a little premature, as I must have not gone through the 'submit >>> are you sure you want to submit >>> just check it one more time' procedure thoroughly enough, so I ended up getting fined for not submitting the thing, and sure enough there it was in my electronic file fully filled in, but not showing as having been submitted.
they agree that they owe me about £ 650 and it's on its way
Result! Drinks on you, then?
sleaterkinney
Well-Known Member
F**king Payments on Account. F**k you HMRC. So now I have to pay the tax for last year and also half that again at the same time as an advance on the next year, why not wait until I submit my tax return for next year, then you can have the money. If someone is self-employed then chances are their income varies so making an assumption that they have the same tax return year to year is daft.
I'll send in the money and they'll send it back out to me again. It must make sense to someone.
I'll send in the money and they'll send it back out to me again. It must make sense to someone.
Leafster
.
By the time you have to pay the first payment on account at the end of January you'll already be 10 months through the year that the payment relates so you "should" have hopefully already earned enough to pay it. (Think about people on PAYE where they have the money taken away from them more or less as soon as they earn it)
However, if you've had a bad year this year and your earnings are going to be lower you can request a reduction in the payments on account.
sleaterkinney
Well-Known Member
How about they wait until the end of the year and then they won't have to do any messing around with refunding money etc.
Manter
Lunch Mob
I file tax returns here, in NL, in three US states and for Federal taxes. I get equalised, which means they all take a chunk and then reluctantly give some back, usually 18 months in arrears. Last year, between them, they took nearly 70% (most of which just came back). So zero sympathy
(actually am hugely sympathetic as I know what a complete nightmare they are and how utterly crap the communication is)
(actually am hugely sympathetic as I know what a complete nightmare they are and how utterly crap the communication is)
Leafster
.
True, but then they'd have to wait to get their hands on any of the money (even the bit that you would actually owe).
I know it comes as a shock to pay such a large amount in one go especially as you (or HMRC) can't be certain it's the correct amount but as I said above, you still get more flexibility than those on PAYE.
Looby
Well-Known Member
Partly to spread the pain as one huge payment in january is a bit scary and as leafster points out, you have worked most of that tax year by the time you make that payment.
What should happen if your income doesn't fluctuate too much is that you will have a very small or no balancing payment in future as you'll have covered most of it with payments on account.
Generally people's incomes don't vary wildly year on year. Obviously there are exceptions to this but it's mostly true.
Zorra
Suburban lazarus
Filled in tax return and had a letter saying I owe them £30: duly paid. Then had a letter on 3rd October saying I had overpaid (I haven't) and they would refund me £2k. Wtf? Still no money been sent to me though. Should I assume they realised it was a mistake and just changed their minds?
Leafster
.
It's a bit difficult to work out what might have happened but I'm guessing you filed a paper Return before 31st October and didn't calculate the tax yourself?
When they said you owed £30 did they send you an SA302 (Tax calculation)? Did you check it against your Return?
When they sent you the later letter saying you had overpaid, did they send you a revised SA302? Have you checked that? Did it relate to the same tax year?
Zorra
Suburban lazarus
Yes, I have to file a paper return because I asked for a split year as an overseas resident. I calculated the tax but more as a footnote (don't remember there being a very complicated bit for the calculations).
Will have to check the type of paperwork (it's in the office). I didn't check the 30£ but it seemed reasonable enough. The refund was for the same tax year. But it's a refund of an amount that I haven't actually paid out, so it must be a mistake. When I have had a refund in the past the money has come in very quickly after the notice, and the letter of refund letter was already two months ago.
Thanks for the help!
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
I'm actually going to do mine early this year (!!!) if not necessarily submit it, just so that I can work out how the fuck I'm going to pay it before the due date rolls around. Shall definitely be looking at getting a reduction in the forward payment thing.
