[Closed] How hard it is it to complete a tax return?

I found mine much easier than expected. You can complete bits and then save so go back later for the next bit. I would suggest start with the easy bits and then ask someone when you don't know. My friend had some problems with shares he was given in a US company but it was relatively easy to resolve.

You don’t need to be an accountant. I’ve done mine for the last 22 years. I use www.taxcalc.com software but that’s because I’m lazy and can import last year’s data. Other cheaper solutions are available. The most important thing is having the data. Entering it is the easy part.

+1 on taxcalc making it simpler.

I use QuickBooks to do my monthly invoice and then income and outgoings as landlord. That also spits out the figures I need for taxcalc.

Both well worth the modest fee. My tax return is a couple of hours now.

Very straight forward. You can skip a lot of it and put in more detail or just the headline figures. If you aren't looking to aggressively avoid tax then it is pretty easy for a normal person. I keep all my figures in a spreadsheet. Took a while to get all the columns just right but now it takes a hour or so to move the numbers from the spreadsheet to the online form.

Website has changed again this year. Thought it was improved.

If you know the numbers it is very straightforward.

Easy, but I am an accountant.

I’ve done one for the past few years. It’s pretty straight forward, just make sure you have ALL your figures in front of you before you start, that way it’s just a case of plugging numbers in.

Much thanks - I've have a go tomorrow night.

Question:
My foreign rental income has already been taxed in NZ. I've been told I need to declare it to HRMC but there is tax relief to be had. Would that functionality be on the website? or would that be something special I need to hunt out and apply for separately?

I found it a right pain in the bum.

It took 3h this year, my 3rd year, as I was better organised and had all the figures in the right order and the right format to put them in.

To do your tax return... first you must register for self assessment 🙂

Filling in your return online is easy - if you've already added up all your numbers its just a question of putting the numbers asked for in boxes - what takes time is being comfortable that you understand the question and whether it applies to you and you have to get comfortable with clicking past the aspects that don't apply to you - there will probably a large swathe of questions that you don't need to supply answers for - and of course you have to have all the relevant numbers it asks for to hand.

You can save and come back to it any time so if you're not sure about a question or haven't done the relevant calculations you can just come back to it later

Actually getting registered with HMRC  - get you government gateway login, UTR etc can take a while though. You haven't mentioned if you've registered but if you haven't and you're due to fill in the return at the end of Jan then you need to get the ball rolling pretty quick.

I pay an accountant and have done for the last 24+ years. I have still ended up with unexpected tax bills for hundreds/thousands on four separate occasions. It's financially and emotionally draining.

My situation is relativly simple (PAYE) and the various accountants I have used have all said/implied that I should do it myself, but the HMRC/Tax rules change and unexpected bills land. Accountants walk off with their fee and I have to settle up with HMRC.

It's not so much the figures, but the rules about what you can and can't do.

By all means do it yourself, but if you can, please get someone to check it for you

I did mine last night in around an hour - however i only have to do it to pay back a % of our child benefit, which basically means entering numbers off my P60 and P11D.

If you know the numbers then i'd say it is pretty user friendly.
I also printed a copy of last years to use as a guide.

(Note - i'm a total moron with anything to do with money)

I'm terrible at it, and pay an accounted £100 to do mine.   Since I've been using her she's always found more than the £100 I'm paying her that I can save / thought I could save from paying via my own efforts, so to me that's justifiable.