Save tax - file online

damianwhite

Ok, I lied filing your self assessment online will not save you tax. It will save you postage. But more importantly, it'll save HMRC a whole lot of money in processing your return. Your typical response to this is: I don't want to save them money the theiving [insert exclamation here]!

Whilst HMRC might not always be the fairest people in the world, and you might have good reason to hate them, any money they spend is money not spent on the reason taxes are levied in the first place: schools; hospitals; (wars on defenceless less economically developed nations). And, with the exception of the latter, I'd much rather the money was spent on these.

So if your one of those people who's made a trip to the post office over the last few days (and stood in one of their insanely long queues) I urge you to use the internet next year.

Please disagree below:

Mikeyorks

No disagreements. Except you've left out the not inconsiderable benefit that it's actually much quicker to file online - provided you have your basic figures to hand.

And it's far less error prone. Both for you as a customer (I think that's what HMRC call you - on a good day?) and for HMRC when capturing the data. They don't have to interpret idiosyncratic handwriting - nor (as once happened to an early paper version of mine) can they turn 2 pages at the same time.

Good deal all round. I expected to see a move to mandatory online filing (as with employer PAYE) from a year or so ago .... it will come!