Self Assessment First Timer - Jan 31st

[Bernie Madoff]

Hi guys,

Hope you are all well, sorry if this post is tedious but will be doing my SA in Jan for the first time. It's it best to put down the £8,000 odd amount that is within the personal allowance and the max you can earn without paying NI. Sorry, I can't remember the exact amount as I write this on my phone.

Is the self assessment very straight forward or are there certain boxes which allow you to be more tax efficient and tax lean? Many thanks. Do you have to give a breakdown of expenses with SA?

Am I worrying about nothing? Many thanks! I know I can offload it all to an accountant and I will some of it, but I want to do it all myself to understand it better.

Thanks!

[Scruff]

Offload it to an Accountant. It's going to cost you though, since you have left it very late now. Who prepared your Ltd Co accounts? If you're an Umbrella employee, then you can easily do it yourself, using HMRC's online submission system. There are also very affordable Personal Tax software packages you can use which link into HMRC's system (£30 or so when I last did my own?).

[ruasonid]

Offload it to an Accountant. It's going to cost you though, since you have left it very late now. Who prepared your Ltd Co accounts? If you're an Umbrella employee, then you can easily do it yourself, using HMRC's online submission system. There are also very affordable Personal Tax software packages you can use which link into HMRC's system (£30 or so when I last did my own?).

Any suggestions/recommendations for Personal Tax software packages?

[fidot]

You don't just put any old figures on the SA forms. You should record what you were actually paid. These figures should agree with company accounts.

If you don't know what was salary how do you know Ni and tax liabilities?

Agree that you need to get with an accountant asap.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

The Self Assessment is a reporting function not a planning function, the ship sailed on planning last April I'm afraid.

So it's not a case of can I do this, can I do that, you must report what happened up to 5th April last year.

If the return is done correctly then there are likely to be no pitfalls or plannig opportunities at this juncture, unless you have something irregular like personal trading losses to offset.

The HMRC portal isn't bad if you are doing a simple return, and you will get a little more understanding. To be honest if it's included in your fee with your accountant, get them to do it, but ask for a copy to look at and spend your time understanding that. However I would have expected your accountant to be chasing you hard on this at this stage anyway.

[Lance]

My accountant does mine. I reckon it takes him 20 minutes. He emails it to me to check before he submits. What you could do is get him to complete for you but you submit. That way you'll learn as well.

As others have said you should report what happened. HMRC already know what salary you've had so it would be foolish to mess with that now.

[kaiser78]

Offload it to an Accountant. It's going to cost you though, since you have left it very late now. Who prepared your Ltd Co accounts? If you're an Umbrella employee, then you can easily do it yourself, using HMRC's online submission system. There are also very affordable Personal Tax software packages you can use which link into HMRC's system (£30 or so when I last did my own?).

This defo - especially if it is your first one. If you get any box wrong the HMRC will be all over you as I found out a few years ago...

[Scruff]

Any suggestions/recommendations for Personal Tax software packages?

I have used https://www.taxcalc.com/individual in the past - only use it if you have been an employee of an Umbrella.

I must warn you that if you have been operating as a Limited Company contractor for any time during the Tax Year ended 5 April 2016, DO NOT attempt to do this yourself. Use an Accountant and be prepared to pay handsomely.