wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
I have actually filed a whole 16 days and 6 hours earlier than I normally do.
Well done me.
Well done me.
Tax return blues - would a bit of solidarity help?
- Thread starter billy_bob
- Start date
Chilli.s
mingling jets and statuettes
Top work, a cash sideline as an accountant beckons?
wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
I actuallly started doing book keeping for a members club last January but had to stop getting paid for it when I got voted in as director of the cooperative last September (no one on PAYE), now doing it on a pro bono basis.
Schmetterling
I saw something nasty in the woodshed!
Done 
How likely is it that they could have made a mistake? Apparently I had overpaid by just over £985. I can’t quite trust my luck.
How likely is it that they could have made a mistake? Apparently I had overpaid by just over £985. I can’t quite trust my luck.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Meant to start today, but didn't even get around to logging in.
TOMORROW is the day . . . . again.
TOMORROW is the day . . . . again.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Bah, just logged on. They seem to have lost a load of my basic details. One of the nice things about it not being the first time is that you never have to fill in any of this shit unless it has changed. So far they have not even got my first and middle name . . . I imagine it continues throughout the form. Bummer.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Does anybody know where I can find the bit where I claim my home as my workplace and get a percentage of heating and electric and floorspace etc? I thought last year they did a new thing where you could just go for an easy lump sum if your home is where you are based instead of submitting loads of crap. I can't seem to see it this year.
Schmetterling
I saw something nasty in the woodshed!
I just include mine in the expenses section.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
What the hell? There is supposed to be a 'simplified expenses' section according to an on line you tube clip (but it doesn't say where) and my form mentions I can't do the simplified expenses claim if I make make a similar claim elsewhere. . . . .except I can's see anywhere where it allows me to make the simplified claim for working from home. Where is it???
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Yeah, but they said there was a simplified version where I didn't have to gather all my bills and work out a percentage based on my time at work and floorspace used . . . there is supposedly some lump sum as long as I type in hours worked.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Or hang on . . . . do I just work out the flat rate on my own from some other part of the HMRC website and then add it to expenses? I assumed it was something in the form that was self calculating.
Schmetterling
I saw something nasty in the woodshed!
When I did my very first tax return for 16-17 I did a calculation on the simplified basis and one on the percentage basis; I realised that the sum on the percentage basis was higher than the sum on the simplified basis so, naturally, that’s what I do every year. I have a spreadsheet template that I use every year so that part of it is not that much work anymore.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I thought it was newer than 16-17
Is the simplified basis detailed on the HMRC website anywhere? I just work that out myself based on their calculations, keep a record of how I came to that calculation then add it as one big whole for all the expenses?
Schmetterling
I saw something nasty in the woodshed!
Not if you did it reaaaaaaally late. Like, so late it was almost early again.
Found this
Simplified expenses if you're self-employed
Use a simpler calculation to work out income tax for your vehicle, home and business premises expenses
ETA Yes to your last sentence.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Thanks that's fab. Never bothered with it before because before that period I never really worked at home ever, but the year before I got a garden office which is only used for work. Can't be arsed to work out the percentages for the small amount of hours I worked from home.Not if you did it reaaaaaaally late. Like, so late it was almost early again.
Found this
Simplified expenses if you're self-employed
Use a simpler calculation to work out income tax for your vehicle, home and business premises expenseswww.gov.uk
ETA Yes to your last sentence.
I wonder if sitting at home emailing people looking for work counts as working from home? . . . or doing taxes even.
Schmetterling
I saw something nasty in the woodshed!
friendofdorothy
Solidarity against neoliberalism!
I've never filed my own tax return. I've always paid someone to do it for me - but that is proving just too expensive now. How do I even start to register to do it myself? I'm scared and no good at online forms. Sorry to be an utter baby about this but the tax people scare me.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Just go to the HMRC website and sign up. It's soooo much easier than it used to be. For me it's generally pretty straight forward. Add up what I earned freelancing, take away expenses. Usually I don't have expenses, and if I hadn't with this years form I would have been easily done well within half an hour.
friendofdorothy
Solidarity against neoliberalism!
Thank you ATOMIC SUPLEX for the encouragement! I recall looking at it years ago and running away back to an accountant. I'll try to be brave.
If I file early enough the tax people work out the tax payable don't they?
If I file early enough the tax people work out the tax payable don't they?
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
You see it immediately at the end when you have filled it all out. If you do it well well well enough in advance you will get a letter and email detailing the amount you have to pay after the amount you have already paid on account has been deducted. Its too late for that now though, so you would have to do that sum yourself. You just have to know what your last payment on account was.
prunus
Tick tock.
If you’re using the online portal (as I presume you will?) you don’t have to do the calculation net of payments on account - although the calculation when you submit doesn’t take it into account if you log back in again after 3 days it will tell you “you must pay X” which is the net amount.
It can take a while to go through the registering process (or at least it used to - might have got better) so probably best to start the process right away if you want to use it for this year.
It’s really not hard at all nowadays - guides you all the way through it. Plus plenty of people on here to help.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I didn't know it only took a few days now. It never seemed to show what I owed taking into account my previous payments on account etc so I just did the sum myself using my own records. Not hard, just mildly nail biting when so much money is involved (and possibly a fine - though I have since discovered a fine is unlikely).
I did notice that when I logged in this time the first thing it showed me was what I currently owe, though I just assumed this was because it was the second payment on account that is overdue as it was deferred from last July (covid).
billy_bob
Air of bewilderment model's own
For all that I'm a baby about it on this thread every year, that's mostly because anything to do with figures just makes my head swim. I think the form is probably as intuitive as you could hope for, and when I've had to ring HMRC helpline to clarify something I've always found them quite helpful - although I think they get less so the closer to 31 Jan you are because everyone's ringing them then.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I agree, it's never as bad as it seems and the HMRC have always been good on the phone. The only real problem I ever had was when a company owned by a massive American company unbeknownst to me added a tax code for me as an intern working from abroad. . . Properly screwed up my return as they assumed I had not claimed some work on my form (when I had, I had just claimed it correctly) so they added it twice and tried to get more tax from me. They said I would need to get the us arm of the company that did the accounts (which I had no dealings with, plus the UK side had shut down by then) to change their records. Somehow it was my responsibility, not theirs, to get the employer to correct (their obvious tax avoiding) 'mistake'. I didn't manage to even get them to respond to me and eventually HMRC just said "fuck it" we will just put a note on it and leave it as an anomaly. Still give my OCD the jitters, as it's just not right.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Not if you did it reaaaaaaally late. Like, so late it was almost early again.
Found this
Simplified expenses if you're self-employed
Use a simpler calculation to work out income tax for your vehicle, home and business premises expenses
ETA Yes to your last sentence.
Oh that's weird and quite a pitiful amount until I kick into working at home full time a la corona. . . . but then it's only £26 a month.
How do you judge your hours? Is it just up to you? I am not sure what is reasonable.
I am guessing I do about an hour a day when I don't have a specific job on, just emailing clients, scouting new work and keeping up to date, then about two hours (maybe more) where I am working, just doing extra script work and keeping up with the client.
How are the HMRC supposed to check all this, especially if I am doing it on a cash basis where the total amount is just lumped together and nothing more than a word document on my drive for my own records?
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Does a receipt for an oyster top up receipt count? I wouldn't have used an oyster for anything other than a work trip.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Ignore that, I have just figured out it was a payment I made on my daughters oyster so that it had enough on it for a trip to new malden on a Saturday. Bum.
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