Self assessment hmrc

[Mayfield]

I’m having trouble getting hold of our accountant and as our affairs are pretty simple I wondered about giving self assessments a crack ( and save his fee ) .....does anyone else do it, or know where there is a dummy On line form I could look at before I decide ?

TIA

[C.A.Versham]

Yes, have done it for several years. If your tax affairs are fairly straightforward it's no problem at all. There are hints along the way when completing the on line form, which you customise to your own situation.

You could get yourself set up with the necessary passwords then have a look at the form and start to complete it. No need to submit the form if you are not happy with the calculation of tax owed or due to you at the end. Then have a chat to your accountant. It depends on the complexities of your affairs and what tax avoidance schemes you might wish to use (if any).

[carless-jane]

That reminds me, I must do mine!! It is very easy to do, I can do it in less than an hour now I've got my paperwork organised, but I have been doing it for over 10 years. Worst bit is adding up 12 months interest on my bank savings account - pennies these days.

[C.A.Versham]

Yes that's the key - to have all the information you need at hand before you start. But you can also pause completing the form whilst you work something out or have a cup of tea or go and lie down in a dark room somewhere.

[KeithW]

That reminds me, I must do mine!! It is very easy to do, I can do it in less than an hour now I've got my paperwork organised, but I have been doing it for over 10 years. Worst bit is adding up 12 months interest on my bank savings account - pennies these days.

For savings interest I just guess a number which I know to be more, for a few quid it's not worth the effort.

[spectrum64]

I think the HMRC system is excellent and very straightforarded to use. You can choose the order you want to fill in sections and it saves as you go. As has been said, you fill all the sections that apply, check it is all there and only then submit it. You get an almost instant acknowlwdgement and calculation.
If your accountant has set things up for you, you should know what you can and cannot include as expenses which is the tricky bit. The info you need for completing a return on SA is no different to that you need to give an accountant.
I think when you first set up a SA account, you have to wait for something to be posted to you, so I should do that soon so you don't have a last minute panic.

[C.A.Versham]

Yes, you need to request a special password to open the self assessment form. Takes about four days to come in the post. You need a gov.uk Gateway account to start off with.

[chris_j_wood]

I've been doing mine online for a few years now, and provided you don't have any complex cases to deal with, it is really simple to fill in once you have the data to hand, and presumably you need that to pass to an accountant anyway. If you have capital gains, that can be a bit more complex, but still manageable.

On the other hand if you have significant foreign income that has had a foreign withholding tax applied to it, then you can find yourself having to read and interpret double-taxation treaties in order to work out how to fill out the form. At that point, it is definately worth getting a specialist accountant involved. Fortunately that is no longer the case with me; but from past experience I can tell you that the UK-US double taxation treaty is utterly incomprehensible.

[MickEdge]

I’ve been doing self assessment from day one and never had much trouble with it. My affairs are pretty simple these days, but I was self employed for a number of years. I have a pretty good idea what I owe before I start and if the HMRC system chucks out a very different number, I can see where it comes from and correct it. The order in which they calculate your tax does seem a little puzzling. There’s a fair bit of detailed online help, which the HMRC’s system displays as you work thought it, the rest can be googled these days. Obviously, the more numerate your are the better. I keep my records up to date as the year progresses, which makes it a lot quicker.

[cnb]

I can tell you that the UK-US double taxation treaty is utterly incomprehensible.

At least it's reasonably recent. I've been dealing with the UK-Portugal one and that was written in the 60s and refers to taxes that no longer exist!