How much should I be paying for self-assessment?

[jconway]

So I have to lodge my 2018/19 tax return with HMRC.

It will include:

• Small amount of dividend income from Limited Company in London
• Some income from non-UK investments (which hopefully I shouldn't have to pay UK tax for)

Do you think this warrants paying £500 for an accountancy to look at? (That's what I'm currently being quoted.)

Or could this all be done fairly easily online, on my own?

(I don't know how easy or complicated the UK tax system is; in Australia it's easy enough to do it all online myself, but maybe the UK is a different story.)

[dx4100]

Do it yourself... Its all pretty straight forward

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

DIY, it's not difficult.

[Lance]

£100 is the going rate.
It is quite easy, but if it takes more than an hour or so you'd be better off paying someone IMO.

[Hobosapien]

DIY is so easy now it's all online. No more faffing around with reams of paper forms and the backing rules on how to fill it in then calculate the amount owed or not.

I just dig out the relevant info first for:

a. Employment (P60 details for PAYE)
b. Additional income (dividends)
c. Savings interest (first £1k is tax free but they still want the numbers)
d. Pensions (contributions over the year)

Unless you have vastly more complicated arrangement then it's easy to DIY or pay around £100 for the normal going rate not the ripped off one.

[bstar1]

So I have to lodge my 2018/19 tax return with HMRC.

It will include:

• Small amount of dividend income from Limited Company in London
• Some income from non-UK investments (which hopefully I shouldn't have to pay UK tax for)

Do you think this warrants paying £500 for an accountancy to look at? (That's what I'm currently being quoted.)

Or could this all be done fairly easily online, on my own?

(I don't know how easy or complicated the UK tax system is; in Australia it's easy enough to do it all online myself, but maybe the UK is a different story.)

Nixon Williams do it for £50

[DeludedKitten]

Do you think this warrants paying £500 for an accountancy to look at? (That's what I'm currently being quoted.)

I'll do it for £450 (and then outsource it to an accountant for £100)

Just send me all your details and I'll get it done today.

[WordIsBond]

I'll do it for £450 (and then outsource it to an accountant for £100)

Just send me all your details and I'll get it done today.

I'll do it for nothing. Just send me your bank log in details so I can, er, verify your income, yeah, verify your income.

[DeludedKitten]

I'll do it for nothing. Just send me your bank log in details so I can, er, verify your income, yeah, verify your income.

That looks like a scam. That's why I charge for the scamming service, so it looks genuine.

In other news, I can also solve everyone's IR35 issues by letting you operate as an employee of my new company and giving you some kind of magic beans in lieu of pay.

[Maslins]

Nixon Williams do it for £50

I imagine that's a bolt on to a Ltd Co package? Ie I highly doubt they'd do a personal tax return for someone they have no other working relationship with, from scratch, for £50. From an accountant's perspective these are two very different propositions. There's a fair bit of admin involved in taking on a new client. Plus before they'll be happy submitting a return on your behalf, they'll want to satisfy themselves that the figures are broadly correct. If they've already dealt with your Ltd Co, including salary and knowing what dividends you took, they're typically 90% of the way there with the personal tax return.

£500 does sound a lot if you don't have anything complex. However do be careful to compare costs of something as a bolt on vs something as a standalone item.

We would tend to suggest if it's just one personal tax return, DIY probably is your best option. It's not worth an accountant's while to get involved with all the admin crap and risk of getting grief for possible errors (even where not the accountant's fault) for a very small one off fee.