Tax return- book keeper or accountant?

MrsNurseyC

Hello all,

I've just received a tax return -my first and last!- as I was registered self employed as a Support Worker for teenagers from October '06- February this year, for a small company, that provided support to social services.

Shortly before this period, I was an agency worker (tax deducted automatically by payroll) which is now what i've gone back to doing.

I'm not financially minded at all and would be most grateful if someone could throw some advice my way: whether a book keeper or an accountant would be more suited to my needs.
I'm not clear what the difference is between them is to be honest! I now work full time, and have tried my hardest to wade through the tax return literature to judge whether i'd be able to do it myself, but it's a different language to mine!!

However, I think my tax return requirements are fairly simple as:

*My proof of income is cheque credits to a current account (opened especially for the purpose of paying in my wages)

*I have a bunch of approx 50 petrol receipts, collected over the four month period (my manager told me I could claim the VAT on the petrol back when submitting my tax return.) I have listed each petrol receipt in date order, and totalled the value of the VAT on the back of the envelope the receipts are stored in.

Any opinions would be gratefully received

nickj_2

i would have thought you could have done it yourself , it seems fairly straight forwards , you only have your income and your petrol; receipts to deal with , i think you will be able to claim all of your petrol; expeneses , not the vat ,
if you need help . get in contact with your tax office , an accountant will charge you around £100 +/-

MrsNurseyC

I thought that initially too Nick, especially as I was only self employed for 4 months. Yet from reading the tax return guide, I'm pretty sure it requires me to account for my periods of (tax automatically deducted) 'ordinary' employment too, from 2004-April 2007.

That's quite complicated: I worked for lots of different agencies whilst as a student, and the tax return seems to assume people only had one steady employer during the period- not so for me!

I'm resigned to the fact I'll probably need some professional help for this one- I'm sure it won't take someone who knows their financial stuff very long. I'm not really sure whether a bookmaker or accountant would be best/cheapest in my situation.

Raksha

Doing your own tax return is fairly simple. You will need your P60 from your employer during this period as well as your receipts and expenses from your self employment period. You can register to do it on line, and personally I find this easiest as it takes you through it step by step, with small boxes which explain each section in more detail so you know you are entering the right figure.

Re claiming expenses and VAT for petrol - you can only claim VAT if you are VAT registered, and this normally has to be done quarterly. You can also only claim for the miles you actually did in connection with your work - so if your vehicle is for family use as well, a portion of those fuel receipts may be for private mileage. The Tax man uses a figure of 40p per mile (up to 10,000 miles per annum) to calculate the cost of running a family car for business purposes, so this would be the figure you use.

HTH

blue_monkey_2

Yes, it is very easy. if you have earned under £15000 then you will need the money you have earned, the expeses you have made in connection with your job (petrol you quote at 40p a mile) and any other expenses that you have spent in connection with the job but you do need receipts for these. It will have boxes for you to ever the figures and is very well explained. it will have figures for the current years job - this is all as you are pying tax for the current 2006/2007 year, no other. If Tax is due it will tell you at the end of the page - if you are owed then it will tell you this as well.

Give it a try and if you get stuck ask a book keeper - an accountant will charge you hundreds and really it is not worth it. You'll be surprised at how easy it is I promise. I think you go to the Inland Revenue website and set up for a password and register. There is a cut off of September so plenty of time to get your head around it and get your passwords in.

Edinburghlass_2

As nickj says if you get stuck, phone the Tax Office you'll find that they will be very helpful.

the_optimist

And don't worry about the employed jobs. You will get a P60 for each one. Apart from being self employed I also work as an employee for several companies and I have found it all straight forward(and I'm no financial whizzkid either). You'll find that you have one sheet in your tax return (the pink one), so if you're doing your tax return on paper you will need to download additional sheets for each job. It sounds complicated but is very easy, especially if your earnings are less than £15000.
Just try it on your own first, there's plenty of time. Good luck

harryhound

Have a bash, you will save a fortune in accountant's fees in years to come and you will understand how the system works.

Just one thought, while you were self employed did you register as such and pay your own National Insurance? (it comes to about 28 GBP per quarter as a flat rate plus more once you have filled in the tax return, it is intended to flag-up the self employed?)

(If the answer is No, decide if the tax authorities will catch up with you - the answer to that is probably yes and you don't want to have yourself flagged as "dodgy" for the rest of your life. So phone up and make a clean breast of your oversight)

Assuming you did pay the basic NI, just get yourself registered with the on-line tax return system. This takes about 2 weeks and involves long ID's and passwords being sent to you by post and then you having to register them. That is probably the most difficult part of the process.

I did it two years ago last Jamuary. The first attempt is a bit daunting but now it is a doddle. Do you have a friend or relative in the same position to help you along? (My sister was getting herself into a right old state about the manual system until she and I spent a Saturday afternoon playing "what if" with the online system - now she feels she knows the rules well enough to argue with her tax office !)

You can play about, changing figures at will, until you think you have got it right and then submit it.
The 0.40 per mile is really useful, more than enough to keep my old banger on the road. (Make a proper chart of where you went on which days - there is just a chance that you could get audited, if your online submission gets picked out by their computer.)

The only problem I had in the first year was an income (of 600GBP), paid to me with PAYE tax taken off, BUT I never got a proper P60. So I completed the return on-line and submitted it and paid the tax (It was January !). When the dozy company sent me their PAYE reference, I wrote to my tax office, explaining why I had been forced to leave out the 600 GBP, and they were as nice as pie about it.

The only problem you might have is the system assuming you will be self employed and claiming mileage for the rest of you life and so wanting an advance payment for the following year.

Good luck

Harry

Kilty_2

Figured I'd be better asking this here than starting a new thread...

Should I have recieved a Self Asessment form for tax year 2006/2007 by now? (I started trading in July 2006).

martindow

Kilty - they seem to be coming out now. I got one yesterday for the partnership and another today for myself so give it a week or two before you contact them to get a duplicate. They must send out millions so it is bound to be spread over several days. There's lots of time before they need to be in.

Kilty_2

Good to hear, last thing I need to worry about at the moment is tax .

Thanks.