i’m self-employed. for 7 years i’ve paid an accountant to do my end of year accounts and submit my tax return. i’d like to save the money on the fees and do it myself this year.

i have an .xls with all my incoming and outgoing money from my very small business.

is there enough time for me to submit myself? that includes registering and anything else that is required to enable it.

is it easy to do?

how do i start?

Very easy and plenty of time. You need an online account and log in number which you get from the .gov website. Iirc they post the id once you register so do it soon. Then you have until Jan next year. First time will take a little while. Maybe a few hours but once you know the sections its very quick. You can modify your spreadsheet to match the hmrc categories and its a piece of cake.

It is easy online BUT it takes ages and hassle to register (well it did a couple of years ago). I’d suggest register ASAP and then you’ll have the rest of January to file. They only really ask for incomings and outgoing and don’t need a breakdown. I was surprised how straightforward it was after the initial set up

Assuming self-employed rather than director of ltd company filing self assessment?

If self-employed it’s fairly straight forward if you’re prepared to do some research, etc. But ultimately your accountant might save you more money as they will know what can be “avoided”.

I guess it depends on how much your time is worth!

OP have you looked at prior years returns in detail and compared them to your spreadsheet data ? Do you feel confident about taking it on ?

As you are self-employed I’d lean towards the accountant partly as rules change and generally they’ll make enough deductions (inc some you may miss) to justify their fee. If you where employed then doing taxes online is pretty straightforward ime but I am less certain recommeding it as a self employed person, perhaps use “threat” of diy to negotiate down the accountant (you can help him by having well organised spreadsheets and receipts)

if my accountant has been doing it for me each year, will i still be able to just go and register myself and then do it? or will that create a problem? or is the accountant using ‘my’ login, and do i need to get details from them? (i have asked, but just sent the email to them right now at 8pm and wondering).

No problem filling it in yourself after the accountant has been doing it. Check your past returns to see what they’ve been doing with deductions and allowances then go from there. If you get stuck give hmrc a call, they’re surprisingly helpful on the phone, though obviously it gets a bit busy in January.

Last year mine took abou 20 minutes to fill in and about another ten to settle up and file the printed copy.

Register now for a chance to get the details through then look back through previous years for guidance

Cock a timely reminder I need to sort this out for this year gah.

I’ve found my accountant always manages to find stuff to reclaim that I’d never find myself. I’d probably end up owing money if I did it myself.

p.s. if you want to file by paper – too late. Had to be done by Oct 31st. Online only from now and must be done by 31st Jan 2017 (and anything you owe paid by then).

And if you haven’t registered there’s supposedly a deadline of Oct 5th for that. Not sure what happens if you miss that.

I’ve found my accountant always manages to find stuff to reclaim that I’d never find myself.

Have you got any examples? I struggle to see what they add to a small business, sole trader

Depends how much you know about your allowances for expenses and stuff like that. Also depends what your doing as to how much you can deduct.

And if you haven’t registered there’s supposedly a deadline of Oct 5th for that. Not sure what happens if you miss that.

phone them and they’ll set you up an ID. There’s still a load of faff to go through online after that, which takes ages, so crack on, but the wife did this last month, no prob.

When I was self employed and not earning much, I always found it was an absolute piece of cake to do. Several pages of zeroes, single numbers for income and outgoings (no breakdown of expenses), job done in 10 mins. Would’ve taken longer if I’d been making a bit more!

….must do my tax returns….

When I gave up the accountant, I remember there being some hoops to go through as I had declared them my agent.

I would get the ball rolling now if you want to do it for this year.

^^ this

Your accountant is more than likely set up as your agent and will have all your log in details so, I’m guessing, you will have to get those off them.

My accountant charges £330 and I’d rather pay that than do it myself as I’m useless with figures.

nickjb – Member 
Have you got any examples? I struggle to see what they add to a small business, sole trader

I’m never quite sure looking at the workings they produce, but seems to be adjustments on allowances for one thing or another. Plus I’m ltd co and use dividends. The tax return is just part of it, it’s the advice on what to do and when during the year, and how the tax codes are dealt with, and thus what can be claimed on tax return. It could be it’s just the tax codes are never quite right so there’s always a claim back there. Tax codes don’t really work for self employed, especially if income is variable.

Oh and gift aid. Total up all donations you’ve made over the year that would have included gift aid, and it adjusts your allowance. I think I get a reclaim there too for some reason.

Small amounts, but it’s tax back and yet when I go over top rate (tax band isn’t top rate for complex reasons) I’m assuming I’m due to pay but keeps coming out with a claim for refund.

done my own and used accountants – depends on how lazy the accountant is – good ones make sure you claim all you can and well worth the spend – crap ones and the trainees that do the leg work (like our current one) can’t do basic math ( how many months in a year?) let alone check that we are claiming back all we can (mini rant)

anyway after a fiasco of an Aus’ tax return this year I’m doing Mrs antigee’s UK tax return (don’t ask life is complicated) but if been out of UK whole year can’t do standard on line have to use commercial software approved by HMRC ….. so going to use this, looks a useful tool… anyone used?

http://l.gosimpletax.com/zen/

PS I’d still go for a GOOD accountant… money well spent