THE deadline is fast approaching. When you read this, there will be less than two weeks left. The self-employed, the high earners, the unfortunates with complicated tax affairs will all be forced to participate in the most loathsome of annual tasks — the self-assessment form.
Revenue & Customs has put out a list of the top ten most common mistakes that people make on their tax returns. If you need reminding that you must sign your form, you can find the Revenue’s tips at www.hrmc.gov.uk. Otherwise, read on for the ten things you really need to know about self-assessment.
1. Ignore Adam Hart Davis’s irritating, cheery advertisement for the Revenue. Tax does have to be taxing. The self-assessment form should be loathed and feared. If you get it in late, you will be fined. If you make a mistake, you will be fined. The best possible outcome is that you get everything right and end up handing over cash to the taxman.
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2. Your bedroom does not need an emergency paint job. Celebrity Big Brother live is not that engrossing. The only excuse for failing to tackle the form is that you are an international drug smuggler beyond the reach of the taxman.
3. Fine, don’t do your tax return. The rest of us will be grateful for your utterly gratuitous contribution to the public purse. You’ll receive an immediate £100 fine, a possible £60-a-day surcharge and an extra £100 fine in July.
4. If you wait until the last day of January to hand in the form at your tax office, prepare to lie to your boss. I passed a queue at a tax office last year. I walked past hundreds of late-payers clutching brown envelopes, standing in a queue that failed to move.
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5. Any information from the Revenue purporting to help the taxpayer is likely to veer between the incomprehensible and the obvious. The incomprehensible: its main tip for completing the form reads: “A ‘yes’ tick has been entered in one of the questions 1 to 9 on page 2 of the tax return but the supplementary page has not been forwarded with the tax return.” Er, right.
6. And the obvious. The first sentence of “Tips on Self-Assessment” from the Revenue reads: “If you have a tax adviser, you may want to ask them about Self-Assessment.” And there was I considering asking my tax adviser about the prospects for peace in the Middle East.
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7. The tax return comes with 22 leaflets, helpsheets and worksheets. The main guide alone has 35 pages. So make sure that you keep headache pills and a damp towel handy.
8. Don’t assume that you can file online at 11.59pm on January 31. Not only will it take up to a week for your password to arrive from the Revenue, but when you do file, expect the traffic on the site to cause delays.
9. Don’t forget the cheque. The form is important, but what the Revenue really wants is your cash.
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10. Is it worth eschewing pensions, investments, the sunny uplands of higher-rate taxpayer status in return for a life free of self-assessment forms? Poverty versus bureaucratic nightmares, the choice is yours.
ANTONIA SENIOR
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For more on tax visit www.timesonline.co.uk/tax