Help to prepare a self assessment tax return

Brie

I've done a self assessment return the last 2 years but know that my tax situation will be a bit more fussy going forward.  So I want to get myself organised and prepare as much as possible in advance.  I also want an easy way to retain the information I'm putting in to the return.

OK - so I file online which is ok but it's not exactly crystal clear what to put where.  Or even that you might need to mention something until you see something and think "What the frog is that??"

So is there any kind of online tool, other than the return itself, that can be used to store the information as it becomes available?  I'd love to have an excel spreadsheet to do the calculations and where I can add notes about what the numbers mean to me.  Does such a thing exist?  Failing that I could put one together but that means having a complete pattern of the self assessment to follow to ensure I'm not missing anything.  I mean I wouldn't even mind a paper copy that I could bulk out with my various tax forms or post it notes.  Does that exist?

I'm reasonably good with numbers and spreadsheets, and did my own and others annual tax returns where I lived before as everyone had to submit one.  Now I have the complication of a number of different pensions including one from overseas plus overseas & UK investments.  That some things are overseas that means I have the issue of exchange rates and have yet to find any guidance from an official source that tells me how to deal with this. And the issue of dealing with 2 different tax years (UK and calendar year).  And the issue that some of my bank accounts don't retain any statements for more than 12 months.  And I've got to do this all for him indoors as well.

Side query - if there's been a significant fee to sort out an investment portfolio is that an expense that can be deducted or is it just absorbed in the capital gains?  (overseas investments inherited had to be moved from equities to mutuals due to me not being a resident there)

AND no I don't want to hand things over to an accountant.  For one thing I wouldn't know what they needed and to find one that can deal with 2 different countries might be both difficult and expensive.

MattMattMattUK

Brie said:

I've done a self assessment return the last 2 years but know that my tax situation will be a bit more fussy going forward.  So I want to get myself organised and prepare as much as possible in advance.  I also want an easy way to retain the information I'm putting in to the return.

OK - so I file online which is ok but it's not exactly crystal clear what to put where.  Or even that you might need to mention something until you see something and think "What the frog is that??"

So is there any kind of online tool, other than the return itself, that can be used to store the information as it becomes available?  I'd love to have an excel spreadsheet to do the calculations and where I can add notes about what the numbers mean to me.  Does such a thing exist?  Failing that I could put one together but that means having a complete pattern of the self assessment to follow to ensure I'm not missing anything.  I mean I wouldn't even mind a paper copy that I could bulk out with my various tax forms or post it notes.  Does that exist?

I keep all of mine on an Excel spreadsheet even though my accountant does it for me, a somewhat belt and braces approach but I would rather the safe than have issues with tax. I then ended up expanding that for a friend to help him out. I broke everything down into different tabs, Income of varying types, allowable expenses etc. Each tab has the formulas and summary at the top and detail below (eg. he can add multiple different sources of interest income, or on the expenses they can all be listed and categorised although those link to a separate sheet I made him for his expenses as well), explains what does what and then a notes section to the right when needed. 

Brie said:

I'm reasonably good with numbers and spreadsheets, and did my own and others annual tax returns where I lived before as everyone had to submit one.  Now I have the complication of a number of different pensions including one from overseas plus overseas & UK investments.  That some things are overseas that means I have the issue of exchange rates and have yet to find any guidance from an official source that tells me how to deal with this. And the issue of dealing with 2 different tax years (UK and calendar year).

The exchange rate is easy if you bring the income into the UK and convert it to Sterling as you just use the rate at the point of conversion, but if you have to account for it still being abroad they are generally fine as long as you use an accurate rate, you could just use bank rate for the day you officially earned it, although that would be less in your favour, personally I would screenshot your actual bank's exchange rate if you transferred it on that day even if you do not, just so you have a fixed value. Other people will use a favourable rate at the start or end of the tax year. 

Brie said:

And the issue that some of my bank accounts don't retain any statements for more than 12 months.  

I save all of mine as PDFs and export the Excel/CSV file every six months just to be safe, it might be worth setting a calendar reminder to do so?

Brie said:

And I've got to do this all for him indoors as well.

Not much we can help with on that one, more coffee?

Brie said:

Side query - if there's been a significant fee to sort out an investment portfolio is that an expense that can be deducted or is it just absorbed in the capital gains?  (overseas investments inherited had to be moved from equities to mutuals due to me not being a resident there)

AND no I don't want to hand things over to an accountant.  For one thing I wouldn't know what they needed and to find one that can deal with 2 different countries might be both difficult and expensive.

Not sure on the fees, my understanding is it would depend on the exact nature of the fees, I would normally ask my accountant that. 

I agree on the accountant thing, mine does my accounts for my limited businesses, very good but I still want a complete overview and like to check my own numbers and I also agree one who covers international earnings is going to be expensive. They seem to fall into two camps, accountants who just file tax returns based on info supplied, cheap, but no real added value, or ones who offer full advice, tax advise, help you plan etc. expensive and probably only worth it if things are really complex, or high value. 

Brie

MattMattMattUK said:

I keep all of mine on an Excel spreadsheet even though my accountant does it for me, a somewhat belt and braces approach but I would rather the safe than have issues with tax. I then ended up expanding that for a friend to help him out. I broke everything down into different tabs, Income of varying types, allowable expenses etc. Each tab has the formulas and summary at the top and detail below (eg. he can add multiple different sources of interest income, or on the expenses they can all be listed and categorised although those link to a separate sheet I made him for his expenses as well), explains what does what and then a notes section to the right when needed. 

The exchange rate is easy if you bring the income into the UK and convert it to Sterling as you just use the rate at the point of conversion, but if you have to account for it still being abroad they are generally fine as long as you use an accurate rate, you could just use bank rate for the day you officially earned it, although that would be less in your favour, personally I would screenshot your actual bank's exchange rate if you transferred it on that day even if you do not, just so you have a fixed value. Other people will use a favourable rate at the start or end of the tax year. 

Brie said:

And the issue that some of my bank accounts don't retain any statements for more than 12 months.  

I save all of mine as PDFs and export the Excel/CSV file every six months just to be safe, it might be worth setting a calendar reminder to do so?   EXCELLENT IDEA!!

Brie said:

And I've got to do this all for him indoors as well.

Not much we can help with on that one, more coffee?

Wow @MattMattMattUK

Sounds like you have exactly what I'm after.  And it also sounds too complicated to simply paste a template in here.  I'm sure there must be a beginner's guide somewhere that I can snag.

Yes more coffee please.  And some paracetamol - I know this is going to give me a headache.

Going to have to think through how to deal with the investments.....if it's a lump that may go up or down then I can't see that there's anything to report.  If I disinvest then I'll need to figure out how to know if there is a capital gain or not.  And I'll have to see what the bank tells me, if anything, about exchange rates.  I don't think they will as the change into GBP should happen before it hits my bank.  An accountant would be great but the funds don't justify the expense.  I'm a pauper compared to many!!!

Hoenir

If exchange rates are ever an issue. Use the BOE.....

Daily spot exchange rates against Sterling

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/Rates.asp?Travel=NIxAZx&into=GBP

It's a source that HMRC will have no issues with. 

MattMattMattUK

My personal one is fairly simple as I just have PAYE, dividends, savings interest, and I do not have any expenses. It has been a few years since I made the other one for a friend and I did it on his laptop there with him so I do not have a copy, I will ask him next time I see him though if that might help. It only took me about half an hour to build so not that complicated and most if that was actually defining everything it needed to have on it.

You could built it all on one sheet, but I found having the different sheets within the spreadsheet meant it was not a wall of numbers and much easier to see what things actually were.

Nomunnofun1

Investment portfolio ‘fees’ are not a deductible expense against either income from investments or capital gains thereon. 

Brie

Nomunnofun1 said:

Investment portfolio ‘fees’ are not a deductible expense against either income from investments or capital gains thereon. 

even when take directly from the investment pot? 

So if there is a pot of £100 and dividends are reinvested directly into that pot the pot would increase. But if fees are then charged and deducted from the pot the pot decreases.  So if the pot was £100, dividends £10 and fees £10 the pot remains the same and there is no capital gain.  If I've got this wrong I'm going to have an absolute migraine!!

JGB1955

I input everything into Microsoft Money 2005.  I can categorise my interest/dividends as tax free/ taxable and then cross check them with a spreadsheet that categorises each of the cumulative amounts - i.e. (£0,000 dividends - £500)* 8,75% = ....  Savings interest, (£0,000 - £1000)*20%.  (Pension income - £12,570)*20% = ???  etc etc.  I get a strange feeling of accomplishment when the HMRC calculation and mine agree!

Time to get a life....

wmb194

Brie said:

Nomunnofun1 said:

Investment portfolio ‘fees’ are not a deductible expense against either income from investments or capital gains thereon. 

even when take directly from the investment pot? 

So if there is a pot of £100 and dividends are reinvested directly into that pot the pot would increase. But if fees are then charged and deducted from the pot the pot decreases.  So if the pot was £100, dividends £10 and fees £10 the pot remains the same and there is no capital gain.  If I've got this wrong I'm going to have an absolute migraine!!

Nope, it has to be a cost directly related to buying or selling e.g., stamp duty, commission. 

General account fees aren't deductible against capital gains or income.

Nomunnofun1

Brie said:

Nomunnofun1 said:

Investment portfolio ‘fees’ are not a deductible expense against either income from investments or capital gains thereon. 

even when take directly from the investment pot? 

So if there is a pot of £100 and dividends are reinvested directly into that pot the pot would increase. But if fees are then charged and deducted from the pot the pot decreases.  So if the pot was £100, dividends £10 and fees £10 the pot remains the same and there is no capital gain.  If I've got this wrong I'm going to have an absolute migraine!!

I think that you might need that paracetamol. 

https://havenfinancialplanning.co.uk/are-financial-adviser-fees-tax-deductible-in-the-uk/#elementor-toc__heading-anchor-0

https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/customerforums/cgt/90d55305-5b02-f011-a4dd-0022481bdc0b

poseidon1

Brie said:

I've done a self assessment return the last 2 years but know that my tax situation will be a bit more fussy going forward.  So I want to get myself organised and prepare as much as possible in advance.  I also want an easy way to retain the information I'm putting in to the return.

OK - so I file online which is ok but it's not exactly crystal clear what to put where.  Or even that you might need to mention something until you see something and think "What the frog is that??"

So is there any kind of online tool, other than the return itself, that can be used to store the information as it becomes available?  I'd love to have an excel spreadsheet to do the calculations and where I can add notes about what the numbers mean to me.  Does such a thing exist?  Failing that I could put one together but that means having a complete pattern of the self assessment to follow to ensure I'm not missing anything.  I mean I wouldn't even mind a paper copy that I could bulk out with my various tax forms or post it notes.  Does that exist?

I'm reasonably good with numbers and spreadsheets, and did my own and others annual tax returns where I lived before as everyone had to submit one.  Now I have the complication of a number of different pensions including one from overseas plus overseas & UK investments.  That some things are overseas that means I have the issue of exchange rates and have yet to find any guidance from an official source that tells me how to deal with this. And the issue of dealing with 2 different tax years (UK and calendar year).  And the issue that some of my bank accounts don't retain any statements for more than 12 months.  And I've got to do this all for him indoors as well.

Side query - if there's been a significant fee to sort out an investment portfolio is that an expense that can be deducted or is it just absorbed in the capital gains?  (overseas investments inherited had to be moved from equities to mutuals due to me not being a resident there)

AND no I don't want to hand things over to an accountant.  For one thing I wouldn't know what they needed and to find one that can deal with 2 different countries might be both difficult and expensive.

I subscribe to proprietary software from GOSimple Tax to prepare and submit my annual tax return online ( other  similar software providers are available).

Benefit of using this software is I can populate the return, as and when I feel like it and as the necessary information becomes available.

So for example, I receive rent, portfolio investment income ( both UK and foreign), bank interest and more recently state pension. I also contribute the minimal £2880 annually to a SIPP, so all in all a fair number of different supplentary SA  pages to complete. 

Was able to quickly populate Rent and  and Sipp  contributions sections soon after 5.4.2025. However currently working though bank interest entries ( 17 accounts!), as and when the instutions make available their annual certificates of interest online ( Kent Reliance was the only one where I had to phone up and request in the past). 

Investment portfoilo income year end  certificates are supplied by HL and Interative Investors, so I can pull the relevant UK and foreign source ( USA ) straight from what they supply. This is one of the major benefits of using  the UK platforms for your unwrapped UK and foreign investments, they collect and remit to you the investment income, then provide year end summaries for tax reporting purposes and even signify which boxes on your return the income should be reported,

Incidentally GoSimple have an excellent enquires desk ( online), so where you hit a stumbling block you can send an email enquiry with usually a  one working day turnaround. Added bonus for me, is I pay a much reduced £19 annual subscription via my Which magazine membership for this software service which fulfils all my self assement filing obligations, with instant access to all past returns ( 9 so far ).

In passing I note you apparently hold foreign mutual funds, which presumably have to be held offshore ( USA? ) because they are not authorised to sold in the UK and therefore held on a UK investment platform. If USA, presumably you have W- 8BEN in place to reduce dividend witholding tax from 30% to 15%?

Unless they are substantial holdings and pregnant with significant unrealised capital gains I would consider ( at some point) selling and repatriating the proceeds to the UK. Professionally I used to find these offshore funds awkward and sometimes time consuming to deal with on behalf of ( non dom) clients who at least had the remittance basis of tax to justify their retention. However, assuming they are dollar denominated, this perhaps is not the right time for you to sell, given the weakened dollar, but worth keeping a watching brief on this with a view to helping  you simplify your  self assessment compliance obligations going forward.