Brain numbing tax return done!

[Brandane]

Self assessment tax return for 2009/10 completed .

Always glad to get the thing done; just wish I'd done it months ago as it has been bugging me. Really annoying that I have been told to do one for the last 7 years, just because I went self employed for a 6 month period in 2003 .

When will they get the message that I now have one employment, and one pension. Both of which are fully known to them as I get a P60 each year.

Anyway, it's done . And I owed them 40 pence .

 

[Globalti]

I went through the same frustration for years because I once worked in France and rented out my house. Every year I scribbled "AS LAST YEAR" angrily on my tax return but it wasn't until I wrote and told them that I was settled down and my tax affairs were boringly simple that they stopped sending me the form. They get my P11D so they know all about my earnings and perks.

 

[thomas]

I did my a few months back. Never done one before and am in no rush to do this years when time comes. Can't they just trust me that I'm under any tax limit for last year...and this year I'll send a cheque for an appropraite amount. A bit like your Gran does at Christmas....

 

[ChrisKH]

Strange. HM C & E don't want people to file a tax return if they have simple tax affairs (no, not shagging Doreen round the back of Customs & Excise) so I'm surprised they would ask. They told me not to file one, but I was wised up by an old work collegaue who I trained that if you have had several refunds (because of increasing personal pension contributions, say) they tell you to stop filing a Return for obvious reasons.

So I make sure I file one every year just to spite 'em.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I do mine between the Xmas - New Year break every year. Even though my accounts are as simple as it gets, cash in - cash out, I still hate it and take several attempts to press the submit button which are aborted when I decide to run through and have another check just in case.

 

[ufkacbln]

I did mine and they decided I owed £75

Then I got a second letter to say I owed £90

Then a third letter saying they owed me £650

Then finally I got a settlement letter with a cheque for £1780

I am awaiting a reply asking them to check whet the actual outcome really is

 

[I like Skol]

I had my own business for 13 years which eventually progressed to a small limited company (1 employee - me!). I stopped trading near the end of 2007 and filed my last self assesment for Jan 2010 together with a request to leave the self assesment scheme as I had no income other than a recently aquired PAYE job. They confirmed I would not be required to file any further returns and they have indeed left me alone since.

Brandane, you must be doing something wrong or maybe they suspect you of something? The best thing is probably talk to your tax office and ask if you can stop being required to file.

 

[XmisterIS]

I swear that HMRC keep things deliberately over-complicated, just to keep "the boys" (and girls) in jobs ...

I remember when I set up my first company and had to send off my first tax return. Anyway, this was before the days when HMRC was quite so online as they are today, and I scanned in the form (booklet!), filled it in electronically, printed it out and sent it off to them.

"Simples!", I though, "I can do that every year, just write a little bit of code to convert my electronic records to data in the form. What a lot of time saved!".

But no. They sent the whole lot back and said it was "inadmissible because it was not completed on form (whatever number)". I phoned them up and enquired - they said that because I hadn't filled out the actual form that they'd actually sent me, then they couldn't accept it. A scanned and printed version was not acceptable.

Luckily, nowadays you can do it all online, although they've clearly spent millions and millions of squids setting up a complicated user interface, when a simple S-HTTP gateway and interface specification would do just fine ... You could just dump the return into an XML document and post it to the gateway - all you need is off-the-shelf gateway software and some technical bods to sit down and write an XSD file against which any uploaded document would be validated. It would also mean that any software engineer could quickly and cheaply write software to allow their customers to submit tax returns automatically. Toooo simples!!!!

 

[Shaun]

Got mine in to the accountants on Monday (so they can check my bookkeeping and do my tax calc / online filing) - so just the usual wait to see what the "damage" is this year.

I must admit, SAGE Instant Accounts was a worthwhile investment - beats the hell out of sitting with a pen and calculator in front of those green Cambridge weekly ledgers.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[Davidc]

Like Admin I've just got mine to the accountant.

Tedious exercise over which I procrastinate terribly. There's no good reasson why I couldn't have handed the stuff over in June!

 

[Over The Hill]

The box file stuffed with bits of paper and bank statements is still there looking at me. I think i can put it off just one more day!

 

[hambones]

2 years late for me Current level of fines for Late Tax Return 2008-2009 is £204.55.

Next one looming!

Thankfully I never pay any tax as I pay myself no income as a Director whilst also paying tax through PAYE so they always clear the fines - phew!

 

[accountantpete]

Spare a thought for the poor accountants at this time of the year

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