Tax return blues - would a bit of solidarity help?

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I wonder if I have done that before and forgotten?
It's shaved about £300 off my tax bill.

It also did an annoying thing though. I couldn't even stick a 0 in my expenses box to stop another RED ALERT telling me I had made an error and could not leave the page. I had to say I would do a detailed breakdown of expenses on the next page, then used the back button on the next page to go back and deselect the expenses section.

 

[furluxor]

I knew it was coming, but I've been asked to pay on account. I get the reasoning, but it's brutal to a pay an entire years tax bill and find part of the money for the next.

It's hideous. I paid a fortune on account last year, and this year I've filed a request to reduce my payments on account to £0 as I don't expect to earn anywhere near as much. Which may turn out to have been a lie, but it was an honest belief when I was filling in the form.

My partner saw my tax bill and we considered moving countries. But having ranted for a bit, we cooled off and decided to stay

 

[teuchter]

This bit here . . . . ?

View attachment 460528

I didn't know that at all.
It's not worded brilliantly. I probably just jumped right over it. It's never been flagged. It might have also been better to instead of just giving me a RED ALERT, to explain why that red alert was flagged up.

Same with the voluntary NICs. "if your income is too low do you want to pay voluntary NIC2s?" So I click YES. "You can't click yes so click no" Huh? "Yeah, also no means yes"

I agree it's not worded or flagged brilliantly, like much of the forms.

Most of these things, I find that once I understand it, if I go back and read the wording it seems reasonably clear. But on first reading, when I'm in a general state of confusion, it doesn't seem like that at all.

For those of us who aren't accountants it would be good if the forms were written in such a way that whenever a particular term is used, a link to its definition is provided. For example, what are the precise definitions of profits, turnover, income, earnings and expenses.

I find the Moneysavingexpert forums are pretty good for working out what to do, by the way.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I agree it's not worded or flagged brilliantly, like much of the forms.

Most of these things, I find that once I understand it, if I go back and read the wording it seems reasonably clear. But on first reading, when I'm in a general state of confusion, it doesn't seem like that at all.

For those of us who aren't accountants it would be good if the forms were written in such a way that whenever a particular term is used, a link to its definition is provided. For example, what are the precise definitions of profits, turnover, income, earnings and expenses.

I find the Moneysavingexpert forums are pretty good for working out what to do, by the way.

I just checked and I have not used this before.
G'damn it.
It may be possible to go back and amend previous years returns and get a rebate.
I have amended a return before when I accidentally forgot to submit an invoice. It cost me £100 in fuck up fees and the extra tax on the invoice (and interest) but other than that was fairly painless.
Even if I had to pay £100 fuck up fee, I think it would end up saving me roughly £170 . . . so £70 cash back.

It's probably worth a phone call to HMRC first (I generally have found them to be quite helpful), but now is probably not the time to do that.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Return Submitted. I think I am going to get a £5000 rebate.
Sounds good. . . but obviously not really. Work has been shrinking year on year since covid.

 

[editor]

So I decided to give tax scouts a go - you pay them a flat fee of £168 and they sort it all out. And although I rarely pay much in tax because my income is looow, they got it down to a straight £0, and I didn't go through all the pain of filling in the forms, so recommended!

Get 10% off TaxScouts services

We'll sort your Self Assessment for you for just £152, all in. Get 10% off yours with this link and start online today.

taxscouts.com

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

So I decided to give tax scouts a go - you pay them a flat fee of £168 and they sort it all out. And although I rarely pay much in tax because my income is looow, they got it down to a straight £0, and I didn't go through all the pain of filling in the forms, so recommended!

Get 10% off TaxScouts services

We'll sort your Self Assessment for you for just £152, all in. Get 10% off yours with this link and start online today.

taxscouts.com

How did they get it to zero???

 

[freshapple]

Is is a flat fee whatever your income/complexity of situation? Sounds like a good deal if so

 

[editor]

Is is a flat fee whatever your income/complexity of situation? Sounds like a good deal if so

Their website says:

Stress-free taxes. £169, all in.​

Self Assessment doesn’t need to be painful.

• Simple, fast, all online
• Sorted by an accredited accountant
• Filed in as little as 48 hours

 

[freshapple]

Depends on the level of advice I see

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Their website says:

So what do they do for that? What do you give them?
Did they help you pick out other expenses to get it to zero? Did they know about some loophole?

I only have work invoices and I type them in as a lump sum. I'd like to know if there is any tax magic they can bring to the table. I did find one new thing this year (on this thread) that saved me £200. I wonder if there is more out there that woukd be worth the fee.

 

[editor]

So what do they do for that? What do you give them?
Did they help you pick out other expenses to get it to zero? Did they know about some loophole?

I only have work invoices and I type them in as a lump sum. I'd like to know if there is any tax magic they can bring to the table. I did find one new thing this year (on this thread) that saved me £200. I wonder if there is more out there that woukd be worth the fee.

I just added up all my work expenses under categories like web fees, DJ software, broadband, union fees, travel cists etc etc and they work out what you can claim (they actually say, "Don't worry about trying to work out what you should and shouldn't include. We'd instead recommend you add all your expenses and your accountant will check and include those which are allowable for tax purposes in your return")

 

[editor]

Depends on the level of advice I see

It's a £169 fixed for a tax return no matter how complicated.

Just pay a flat fee​

No matter how complicated it gets or why you need to do a return,
it’ll cost £169.

That includes VAT, last-minute changes and all the support you may need.

 

[Elpenor]

Had a look on their website and appear to be a portal for clients - you - to use and your work - ie tax return - gets picked up by an accountant on their books. The uber of tax returns perhaps

Seems odd to use a multinational startup no doubt dodging tax (but that’s what self employed folk tend to do isn’t it so probably a good thing as they take their own medicine?) rather than opt for someone local with whom a long term relationship could be established

 

[editor]

Had a look on their website and appear to be a portal for clients - you - to use and your work - ie tax return - gets picked up by an accountant on their books. The uber of tax returns perhaps

Seems odd to use a multinational startup no doubt dodging tax (but that’s what self employed folk tend to do isn’t it so probably a good thing as they take their own medicine?) rather than opt for someone local with whom a long term relationship could be established

Comparing them to Uber suggests that the accountants are getting underpaid/shit fees. Do you have any evidence of this?

I'm self employed and have never dodged tax. In fact, I usually pay over the odds because I can't be arsed to claim for half of the things I could. Not sure why I need a local accountant either.

 

[Elpenor]

Comparing them to Uber suggests that the accountants are getting underpaid. Do you have any evidence of this?

No it doesn’t. Merely that it’s a middleman connecting service users with service providers

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I just added up all my work expenses under categories like web fees, DJ software, broadband, union fees, travel cists etc etc and they work out what you can claim (they actually say, "Don't worry about trying to work out what you should and shouldn't include. We'd instead recommend you add all your expenses and your accountant will check and include those which are allowable for tax purposes in your return")

I see. Thanks.
I doubt it woukd help me much then. I don't usually have much in the way of expenses.

 

[freshapple]

Comparing them to Uber suggests that the accountants are getting underpaid/shit fees. Do you have any evidence of this?

I'm self employed and have never dodged tax. In fact, I usually pay over the odds because I can't be arsed to claim for half of the things I could. Not sure why I need a local accountant either.

How do you deal with benefits in kind?

 

[editor]

How do you deal with benefits in kind?

What are you on about?

And what evidence do you have that most self employed people 'dodge' tax?