David Lock

Tax return time again I have a small business but I’m fed up with paying an accountant to submit my annual return so I think I will do it myself. But I get stuck on some of the details and wondered about going into the tax office and getting some free help. Has anyone done this? Did you find them helpful and on your side as it were or do they give you the 3rd degree asking to see every receipt and a “you can’t claim for that” attitude?

Any comments welcome. Cheers, David

hodgy0_2

i do mine online in January, and often ring them if I have a query over whether I can claim etc.

I have always found them to be extremely helpful and easy to talk to

they will obviously not talk you through some exotic tax avoidance system but on the basics of - can I offset the cost (or a %) off the cost against my tax liability, they will give you a straightforward answer.

obviously they have to accept what you tell them re your circumstances, is correct.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

So what you are saying is that you don't want to fork out for an accountant, you want us tax payers to pay for someone to advise you?

Just imagine how much the tax office would cost if we all took the same attitude? The system would be even more in it's knees than it is now!

Anyway - there are plenty of online accountancy services that are dirt cheap - if you are a limited company then I think you will need to provide audited accounts anyway so you will still need some accountancy service.

David Lock

So who's rattled your cage then

I am not a limited company and my turnover is not usually enough to attract more than a few hundred quid in tax. But the accountant I have used for the last 30 years now charges £100 per hour. So sod that.

An on-line service is not going to help with discussion about minor points.

So yes I want some free help, at your expense

Would the country be better off if I just joined the black economy?

Have a nice day David

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Sponger

The Zohan

David, fwiw a good accountant who understands you and your business should save you more money than it costs for their services, even for a small business and in most cases.

MMT WRX

I use a local small business accountant. My Mrs does do a lot of the ballache stuff, all expenses on a spreadsheet split into capital and consumable etc, leaving him to do the rest. It costs us just under £500 but he has easily saved us that.

I helped a guy do his last year. His business isn't very complex and I must say the return was relatively straight forward to do. On a couple of points he did ring them for advice and said he was pleasantly surprised how helpful they'd been.

Can't you get everybody to pay cash next year, then you wouldn't have to worry...well not about form filling anyway

Scooby Soon!

I think I pay my accountants £50 to £100 for my personal tax return and it means I never have to deal with any of the scum bags that work in the tax office, money well spent IMHO



P.S.

If you are paying £100 an hour for an accountant that is crazy, I use a top local firm and they charge between £35 to £90 per hour depending on how complex the job is (juniors do the easy stuff etc)

Lee247

Can't you just tell him to fix a set price for you. £100 an hour seems extreme.
BTW, the revenue are very helpful these days, but you really do need a basic knowledge of what to claim as they won't give that much detail to you.
If you get stuck on anything, send a pm and if I can help in anyway, I will

David Lock

OK thanks and Lee especially

Interesting comments but no one has actually answered my question!!

As I said I have been submitting business papers to an accountant for 30 years so I have a pretty good knowledge of what is claimable. But there are just a few areas that I am not sure about and I am reluctant to pay my accountant his extortionate rate to fill in a return. But I don't want to drop myself in it if I visit tax office - hence the question.

Let me give one example. I work from home in a custom built office. My accountant has always marked down a relatively small amount for "use of home for business". But I haven't a clue how he determines amount claimed - I certainly don't send him all the heating/gas electric bills etc. I was planning to add 10% to last years figure and put that in as an expense, would that be acceptable? Stock is another mystery - if I have £1000 of stock at beginning of year and £500 at end of year is that a £500 income?

Thanks for pm offer Lee

David

MMT WRX

We have a room which we use as an office, our accountant asked how much % wise it was used as an office and then told us a figure. It was as if they have fixed amounts based on useage. I know last year he raised the amount based on our increase in turnover and subsequent office requirement.

If your stock is buy to sell then you would have receipts for the sales of the £500 worth of stock and would therefore already be showing as income. So I don't think you need to do anything. I am guessing here though.

Daryl

They speak very highly of you!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

David I think that you will find that what you describe above is exactly the value an accountant would argue that they add!

Mrfastbaz

a friend of ours decided to do his own self employed tax return a couple of years ago as his accountant upped his costs carlfilled it in along the lines of the previous years tax form which his ex accountant had completed for whatever reason maybe he was unlucky dont know the tax man started asking him questions etc and he ended up spending more money in the end getting a tax accountant to sort out the mess he had caused himself... worth spending the money and get an accountant my mate does now and always will in the future

fast bloke

David - If you make less than £100.00 an hour, spend a few hours reading up on the rules. HMRC are actually really helpful. They won't help you with tax avoidance, but they will make sure you know all the rules required to make sure you don't pay more than is necessary. I used to pay an accountant about a grand to rubber stamp my accounts. One January he broke his leg and wasn't available. I couldn't get someone else quick enough, but he had already done a rough draft. I called HMRC and the girl took all the details. It turned out that I was claiming stuff that I couldn't claim, but wasn't claiming stuff that I could. As I was claiming stuff that I couldn't, I had a full audit. Basically some scary guy comes to your house and asks how you paid for your TV, your watch, your groceries and makes you justify every bean you have spent for the past 6 years. When they were done, they sent me a cheque for about 1500 quid. (I thought I was going to jail, so this was a major bonus)

There are many 'grey areas' in accounting, but if you ever get on the wrong end of an audit, I would prefer to say that it was based on HMRC advice rather than 'my accountant said it was OK'

Be careful about claiming for a home office though. It could make you liable for CGT if you ever sell.