[dai]

I'm going to take Tosh's advice and do my own tax returns from now on.
My accountants have dropped me in it with the tax man, and it's going to cost me another £100.
When they informed me of my tax liability, and submitted their bill, I was there the next day to pay both with my card.
When I checked my bank statement yesterday I saw that their bill had been paid, but nothing for the tax man. I phoned the tax people this morning and they confirmed no payment had been received.
 Phoned the accountant and they said that they don't accept card payments for tax bills, only cheques.
Why the hell didn't they tell me that when I gave them my card making it quite plain I was paying both bills? I had made the payments to the receptionist and she forgot to mention it. Great! now I will be saddled with another £100 bill for late payment.

Some say that the accountant saves them his fee plus, this may be the case with larger companies, but I don't believe it is for sole traders, especially those that submit their accounts in December and January.
They are so busy at this time that they miss things out, they forgot to put down my office pc as a new capital asset for one thing.
The tax man doesn't give us much, but they do give all the advice we need freely, that's the road I'm going down in future, if you want it done right, do it yourself.

[lee_dewing]

didn't see your post dai.

just put a post on regarding this.
is it tricky doing your own return and does an accountant save you more money?
obviously not for u.
And that's what i think.

[RO-Sheen]

Sorry you had that bad expereince Dai, I have an accountant but I get my receipts to him by may at the latest, He then calculate it for me so then I have the rest of the year to put money aside.
In december the tax office send me an invoice for the tax owed so I then transfer my payment from my account to the tax office via internet banking. all nice and easy.
I did think about calculating my tax myself but It is alot less hassle for me to pay someone to do it for me. I have enough 'back stage' stuff to do as it is and I know he wont forget anything.
Hope it works out for you mate

[Tosh]

Great! now I will be saddled with another £100 bill for late payment.

That's not definate; I've been late paying the tax man; they're not that scary really and I didn't end up with the £100 fine either.

Look, doing your own tax is easy if you're a sole trader and turning over less than 30K per year.  It may be more complex if you employ, or turnover more than 30K, but I don't, so I don't know about that.

[chrisyg]

Sorry you had that bad expereince Dai, I have an accountant but I get my receipts to him by may at the latest, He then calculate it for me so then I have the rest of the year to put money aside.
In december the tax office send me an invoice for the tax owed so I then transfer my payment from my account to the tax office via internet banking. all nice and easy.
I did think about calculating my tax myself but It is alot less hassle for me to pay someone to do it for me. I have enough 'back stage' stuff to do as it is and I know he wont forget anything.
Hope it works out for you mate

Best thing to do - pay as soon as the tax year is up.. so long as you have all receipts just fire them into the accountants, to do them in may/june plenty of time for you to check their work and to save up for the bill.

Dont leave it all to the last minute.

[mikethechamois]

explain to the taxman that you gave your card details to your accountant to pay your liability  and he failed to pay..................you stand a good chance of getting the fine paid by your accountant not you

[Ian Lancaster]

Why do you pay your tax via your accountant? All he does is pass it on (or not, in your case ) and charge you for it.

Pay his fees to him and the tax to the tax man.  That way you know you've paid.

The tax man is legally bound to send the bill to you, anyway, even if your accountant tells you to give the money to him.

The tax bill is clear enough:  "Pay £X by 31st January (or July) with simple instructions for all the various ways to pay.

[Tosh]

Ian,

From what I gather, I reckon accountants like to make things sound like 'rocket science'.

The more complex they make the job sound, the more they can charge; they're no different to dodgy tradesmen!

[AuRavelling79]

Great! now I will be saddled with another £100 bill for late payment.

That's not definate; I've been late paying the tax man; they're not that scary really and I didn't end up with the £100 fine either.

Look, doing your own tax is easy if you're a sole trader and turning over less than 30K per year.  It may be more complex if you employ, or turnover more than 30K, but I don't, so I don't know about that.

Why does the 30K threshold make a difference, Tosh?

[NWH]

If your tax return is sent into them before 31st jan if you pay late you won`t have to pay £100 you have to pay interest for everyday late,the £100 bill is for not submitting your return.

[Tosh]

Great! now I will be saddled with another £100 bill for late payment.

That's not definate; I've been late paying the tax man; they're not that scary really and I didn't end up with the £100 fine either.

Look, doing your own tax is easy if you're a sole trader and turning over less than 30K per year.  It may be more complex if you employ, or turnover more than 30K, but I don't, so I don't know about that.

Why does the 30K threshold make a difference, Tosh?

It doesn't make a difference; not really; but the short tax return you get if you turn over less than £30K is less daunting than the full big tax return you get if turn over £30K; even though they're pretty much the same 'animals'; only that there's loads of irrelivant stuff (not needed for me anyway) in the latter submission.

My point is; your average sole trading window cleaner will turnover less than £30K and the book keeping is easy; there's no need for an accountant.

[dai]

If your tax return is sent into them before 31st jan if you pay late you won`t have to pay £100 you have to pay interest for everyday late,the £100 bill is for not submitting your return.

Well they had the tax return the begining of January, I went in to pay the bill on the 19th, lets hope I don't have to pay the 100 quid.

[Bobs Window Cleaning]

Dont tar all accountants the same Dai.

I have a great one and wouldn't be without him.

[seandyer2003]

Great! now I will be saddled with another £100 bill for late payment.

That's not definate; I've been late paying the tax man; they're not that scary really and I didn't end up with the £100 fine either.

Look, doing your own tax is easy if you're a sole trader and turning over less than 30K per year.  It may be more complex if you employ, or turnover more than 30K, but I don't, so I don't know about that.

why over 30 k tosh??

[Ian W]

Sorry to hear that Dai.

I was going to get an accountant, but having considered my options, I am going to continue to do my returns myself.

Hope it works itself out for you.

[paulscotney]

Had a letter from the taxman last week, saying just paid £89 into your agent's account (my accountant) for you.

So that will offset his bill a bit.

I have been self employed since 1987 and very recently ltd. I just find it far easier to pay someone to do my returns, I have always used an accountant.

I can understand someone wanting to do their own and I am sure it is not that hard but I would rather do something else.

Tosh likes to do his own but he served in the army pay corp OR similar and it is first nature to him. Somebody who served in the catering corp would be good at cooking. Horses for courses.

[Dean Taberner]

Dai,

Double check,

You should be fine mate,

Dean

[Tosh]

Somebody who served in the catering corp would be good at cooking. 

That's the funniest statement I've ever read on this forum; honest!

[Tosh]

I'm still giggling!

[NWH]

If you got your return in on time you`ll only pay interest on monies due per day.