the nasty tax return
- Thread starter andyuk1
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You will be able to do a self assesment. Have a look into it, then decide if you want to pay an accountant! I have one for doing my company returns, and he charges £400 for my end of year. I think that is quite reasonable!
This is the point, it won't cost much but you may well profit from having an accountant type who knows what they are doing and can reduce your tax liability fully.
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Indeed.....good advice this.....I'm a self employed Bathroom and Kitchen designer, supplier and fitter and my accountant saved me a pot load of money.
They can write off so much legally that you actually end up wondering if it is true.
Had I have done it on-line I would have ended up paying around £2000 more than I actually did.
Accountants that know what they are doing are worth their weight in gold.
somebody told me i can claim for a mortgage,pension,computer things.stuff like that.whats a mortgage got to do with work?all i thought u could claim was tools and petrol.but some good advice there.So there is no fixed price for an accountant.depends on what i am claiming for.How can i tell a good accountant and one that wont rip me off.
I suppose it depends how good you have been at keeping your records up to date? A friend of mine keeps her own records in good order and done her own Online tax return easily. After all, doesn't an accountant take what records you have and apply them to the self assement online?
You can only claim expenses which relate to your business. Ie an appropriate percentage of your home used for business. If HMRC audit your return you better have good reasoning for expensing your whole mortgage!
You have a certain amount of your household bills that can be allowed as an expense if you work from home, don't know if that works for an electrician really as you won't be working from home. Best to get an accountant, the ones I know who do the books and self assessments for sole traders tend to charge a fixed fee that will be dependant on the amount of work they need to do, generally they would probably charge less if you had your reciepts in 12 envelopes for each month of the year, maybe keep them in date order aswell for each month etc etc, the less they need to do sorting everything the less they are likely to charge, also keep a diary of your income, who you invoiced, how much etc, have a business account solely for business and hand over the statements (or copies) so it can be reconciled etc etc, the more you can do to make their life easy the less of a charge for their services.
An experienced and good accountant generally pays for themselves, there is a good chance your friend may well already know what she can get away with as far as expenses are concerned therefore won't require a bookeeper/accountant.
Thats what i was thinking.why pay someone if its not hard to do online.Anyway thanks for the help ppl.May try to do it online and see how i go from there.
As an accountant self assessment returns aren't hard at all. However, like others have said, the reason you get an accountant is because they can maximise the expenses you claim (assuming they know what they're talking about) thereby reducing your tax!
It isn't about lying on it. Things like working from home you can apportion some of your costs to your trade, e.g light, heat, rent, telephone, mortgage, council tax etc. As an electrician he may keep all his records at home. Therefore some of his "personal" costs could count as a business expense. Or buying a van for work. You don't technically claim it all back in the year unless you have sufficient AIA to cover it. Or people quite frequently forget you should declare the interest you've received in the year from your non-ISA bank accounts. Although interest tends to be paid net if you go into the 40% tax bracket then you have additional tax to pay on that interest (not at 40%).
The main nitty gritty is pretty simple, like I say an accountant will make sure you don't miss the little things!
The main nitty gritty is pretty simple, like I say an accountant will make sure you don't miss the little things!
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I used to find it quite easy so I did my own, but I'm quite good at maths. It's not difficult now it's online. First one is a bit of a mission, but after that it's a breeze.
Oh, and your tax bill is almost always higher than you expect. Thoroughly consider your expenses
Oh, and your tax bill is almost always higher than you expect. Thoroughly consider your expenses