Is it worth employing an accountant?

Ligilooli_2

Hi
Can anyone tell me whether it is worth my son paying for an accountant to complete his tax return as a self employed labourer, or is there anywhere we can obtain the information about what he is able to claim against specifically. I have had a good trawl through hmrc.gov.uk and cannot find any reference to what the acceptable allowances are.
Looking at PAYE calculator it seems he would have paid about £400 if he had been PAYE, whereas he has paid £1700+ for last year, as he was deducted a straight 20%. From what I can see, and accountant would charge about 20-30% of the tax reclaimed, which seems a lot if we can do it ourselves.

nexuss

HMRC are offering free courses to show you how to complile your tax records.

ligilooli

Thanks, but we need to something pretty quickly as he has now moved to return to studying and is only here a couple of days (organised as ever!)

nexuss

It is not that hard to do if he has all his invoices.

TM1976

Don't use one of those places where they charge a percentage. Look in the yellow pages or equivalent. Find a small high street accountant, phone them and ask how much they charge.

This should be £250 maximum, it's probably possible to get it cheaper. If he is self employed he will be able to claim some expenses to bring his tax bill below the PAYE amount.

ligilooli

Yes, but the trouble is that we don't know what is claimable and what isn't. For example, can he claim work clothes, if so what is acceptable, and how much could he claim, and does he need receipts for everything?

ligilooli

Thanks TM1976, I was replying to nexuss's previous post. That is helpful. I just wonder whether there's anywhere that we can get these basic hints about what to claim so we could do it ourselves

John_Pierpoint

Has he got a mate who was working on the same job, preferably one who has his affairs up to date and perhaps used an accountant?

In my experience there is usually someone on a site or in an organisation who knows what they are doing and are proud to explain if asked by someone who is interested.
(A bit like on here really:D)

ligilooli

Yes, that would be ideal! Sadly they all seem as disorganised as he is!

jackieb

We used an accountant last year. My husband got £12000 back and they charged just over £200. No way would I go with a place that charges 20%!

I've done my husband's tax returns in the past. If it's fairly straighforward, it's easy enough, but since my husband started working abroad it got more complicated, hence getting an accountant to do it.

Ste_C

ligilooli wrote: »

Yes, but the trouble is that we don't know what is claimable and what isn't. For example, can he claim work clothes, if so what is acceptable, and how much could he claim, and does he need receipts for everything?

The expenses you put down are the expenses he incurs in order to run his business. If he needs overalls to do his work then they are a business expense and are therefore allowable.

And yes, you should keep all your receipts as proof. You can list expenses incurred without receipts, but if he were ever subject to an inquiry and didn't have proof then he'd be in trouble with the tax man.