self employed tax return/rebate

chattykathyblue

My brother is due to submit a self assessment return. He works on a 'self employed' basis in the building industry. His 'employers' ie the building contractor deducts 20% of his wages each week which I assume he needs to claim back, minus his personal allowance. He has recently been made unemployed and is broke so thought he (with assistance from me) would make the claim himself instead of paying an accountant the usual £300-400. Is this wise? Do accountants generally make a better job of it and get more money back? I haven't got a clue as to what expenses he could claim either as I have never had to fill in a tax return. Is it self explanatory on the form? Or is there a guide we could use? Your help would be much appreciated

chattykathyblue

Can no-one on here give me an answer or point me in the right direction? :-(

taxsaver

I own an accountancy practice so obviously feel that accountants generally make a better job of it.

However, he can certainly do it himself. It's not just a case of claiming back (via the tax return) his unused personal allowance for the year, but to get the best result for him you need to also take into account allowable expenses that he incurred during th course of his self-employment. This is the area where people often get it wrong by either not off-setting as as much as they could do or claiming allowances they shouldn't or claiming them incorrectly.

If you were to post here all his income and expenditure then it might be possible for some of us (if it's straight forward) to help you to avoid the most common mistakes.