Self Assessment gov.uk website is misleading

DStone79

On the face of it, the Self Assessment page on "who must send a tax return" seems to indicate that to most people it doesn't apply. Only by digging deeper can you find other conditions that might bring you within scope...
Is this not misleading?

Sorry can't post the link yet.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

It doesn't apply to "most" people.

Only 11 million or so people file returns out of 67 million living in the UK.

What do you think is misleading?

sheramber

What other conditions are those?

DStone79

@Dazed_and_C0nfused if you look on the website page, it only lists:

• self-employed as a ‘sole trader’ and earned more than £1,000 (before taking off anything you can claim tax relief on)
• a partner in a business partnership

@sheramber if you do the "Check if you need to send a tax return" you may be eligible for a range of other reasons, such as income level, income from other sources etc etc. 

I am saying only listing those 2 conditions on the page is misleading as if you take that literally, you wouldn't need to look into it further.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

The section you refer to actually says this,

Who must send a tax return

You must send a tax return if, in the last tax year (6 April to 5 April), you were:

self-employed as a ‘sole trader’ and earned more than £1,000 (before taking off anything you can claim tax relief on)

a partner in a business partnership

You will not usually need to send a return if your only income is from your wages or pension. But you may need to send one if you have any other untaxed income, such as:

some COVID-19 grant or support payments

money from renting out a property

tips and commission

income from savings, investments and dividends

foreign income

Check if you need to send a tax return if you’re not sure.  https://www.gov.uk/check-if-you-need-tax-return

DStone79

Yeah I know - it just seems to place too much emphasis on the sole trader and partner parts.... as if that's the key criteria.

DStone79

Even with the rest of the items, it doesn't say if your income is over a certain level....

You shouldn't have to drill into it further to determine eligibility - it should be right there on the page.

sheramber

To avoid listing everything on the page they have given a link to use to check whether you need to complete a return.

That is easier than overloading a page with a lot of information that , as we are continually finding on the forums here, people do not scroll down to read.

Not misleading as you are directed to the source of the full information.