Self Assessment - how difficult is it?

[Waldorf]

If you are ok with simple forms AND your income is simple, ie salary, interest, dividends then you could probably do it yourself, otherwise even if you have to pay £75 it could be cheaper to have your accountant do it rather than making a cock up of your return and opening yourself up to unnecessary questions from HMRC.

[jpdw]

How difficult is this work and do most people just do this themselves or is the money well spent getting your accountant to do the leg work? Although I don't know will I still need to do some work myself even after paying them but I will check with them.


After a pub conversation where some mates moaned about how long it took them, I timed doing mine this year:

52 minutes including getting out all the paperwork (I'm the sort of person with half a dozen bank accounts) before starting, through to having submitted it. To be fair, I've done SA for many years now (10 maybe? I don't remember) and I'm sure it took me longer in the past.

The trick I learned that makes it easier is to remember what paperwork you'll need for SA and put that stuff into a single findable envelope as it arrives throughout the year. Then when you go to do your SA, in that one envelope, you have everything you need. After that it's "just" reading number off the paper and filling in some webforms.

Stuff to put aside includes: P11D, P60, Paye coding notices, annual taxed-interest statements from banks, divi vouchers/statements. Plus other stuff depending on your particular tax circumstances.

Filling in the form yourself also means you can read all the things that are allowances or deductables -- you never know, you might discover some stuff that applies to you that you didn't know about !!!!!!

[Michael at BI Accountancy]

Dat's wot I said!!!

Well kind of...

Something to do with the fact because it's part year there it takes more time than if they have the full year in their format?

[siouxchief]

Thanks all, i started with them around November but didn't need to do one in January this year as didn't meet the criteria.
I didn't see where it said included in the monthly price but get it now, they charge if it is after a particular date. Apologies i missed this but glad it will be free.

[northernladuk]

Just taking a guess but I believe this may be as the OP has started with their accountancy services after 5th April 2015? Meaning current fees would only cover 5th April 2016.

Dat's wot I said!!!

[Michael at BI Accountancy]

EDIT: Just check nw website and its included in monthly fee.

Just taking a guess but I believe this may be as the OP has started with their accountancy services after 5th April 2015? Meaning current fees would only cover 5th April 2016.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Self Assessment - how difficult is it?

It's easy enough to do. Bit of a p!ss take to charge as an extra though.

EDIT: Just check nw website and its included in monthly fee.

[northernladuk]

I could be wrong here but I seem to remember being charged to have an SA done in the first year of services with SJD. I think it was inclusive after that. Something to do with the fact because it's part year there it takes more time than if they have the full year in their format?

Could be wrong there though.

Ask them if this is just the first one you charged for and what's the score with any going forward.

[Fred Bloggs]

What a rip off by NW. Most of the contractor accountants I have looked at offer up to two complementary self assessment returns if you are with them for the year. Only the cheapest ones I've seen charge extra for the SA returns. I guess NW are not inthe cheap category?

[PerfectStorm]

Think of the kinds of people who run businesses and fill in SA forms

It's a piece of piss

[siouxchief]

Hi,

I am new to contracting and have never filled out a self assessment form which i will have to do next year but my accountants Nixon Williams offer to help with this for £75 + VAT.

Edit: Someone pointed out the charge only comes in after a particular date so it is part of the monthly cost to be fair to NW.

What is a Self Assessment Tax Return? | Nixon Williams

How difficult is this work and do most people just do this themselves or is the money well spent getting your accountant to do the leg work? Although I don't know will I still need to do some work myself even after paying them but I will check with them.

Cheers