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TFS.x
Get your tax return in early and put your feet up!
In my last post we went over the benefits of the SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension) and how it led me to “earn” around £1500/hour simply by filling out my self assessment tax form. Now for me, attempting to do this seemed rather daunting, and so even though it does not really need a step by step guide, I thought I would create one anyway to show any folk out there who may also be daunted, that you should really not be daunted by it. I probably also should’ve thought of another word for daunt 1 rather than writing it three four times
I’ve just come back to the intro having written the guide and can confirm in fact that it isn’t really all that straight forward!!!! Therefore, I am really glad I decided to write it. There were various points where, even though I’d already gone through the process, I forgot what I had to do next. So there you go, a government process that is convoluted and unnecessarily long winded and confusing, who’d have thought!?
But now, you have below a comprehensive and fool proof guide to filling out your first self assessment tax form! If you get stuck or have any questions just leave a comment below and I’ll try to answer if I can.
Important note: There is a lot of waiting around for registration codes and so on to come through the post! So be warned, if you want to do it online and have never done one before then you need to start this process well before the deadline for online tax returns which is normally 31st January of the following calendar year (You can read all the other tax return deadlines here).
I am going to assume you are a boring old regular Joe like myself and do not have very complex tax affairs (otherwise I would assume you’ve already worked out how to do this, or are paying someone else to do it for you). This means that all you really need to know to fill in your tax return is:
- How much you earned and tax you paid in the given tax year you are claiming for (find your P60!)
- How much interest you paid (and how much tax on it you paid)
- How much you put into your SIPP
- Amount of gift aid eligible charity donations you made
I am also going to assume that you don’t have any taxable share accounts or have had any other capital gains outside of tax wrappers such as your ISA, as again if you do then you are probably one step (or more like several steps) ahead of me here.
Before you get going with this: please consider whether you really need to fill in this form, since I wrote this guide the comments section has revealed that there is an easier way to claim tax back on your SIPP (if that’s all you really need to do. Read about the updates here and check the comments section as well.
OK multiple intros and caveats over with, if you still want to or think you need to fill in a self assessment form, here it is. Your step by step guide to registering for HMRC online services and filling in your self assessment tax form:
↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Notes:
- Going even more off topic but this made me wonder: you can “be daunted” but can you daunt someone else? As in “Yoooo dude I totally daunted you out there!!!” I have never heard someone say or read such a statement. Anyway, something else to ponder on while you are awaiting your UTR number to come through the post…
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