Tax advice

[Michael Mcneil]

Anyone got a link to an accountancy type forum. I want help with some self employment tax issues. TIA.

[Mark Wood]

Try subscribing to 'uk.legal'

Quite a friendly bunch, more than willing to help. I'm sure someone there will either help or give pointers to relevant WWW's.

HNY

[Dave Liquorice]

Tried calling your Tax Office? They are a friendly lot and appreciate that a) Tax is very complicated. b) The forms can be confusing if you don't fully understand Tax Speak. c) Would rather everything was correct to start with than waste time later sorting out a mistake.

As you are Self Employed it may be worth your while finding a Tax Accountant, they'll know what things(*) you can claim, to what level, without the Inland Revenue raising an eyebrow. Yes you'll pay a few hundred quid for them to do your Tax Return but it's a business expense and a good one will save you the remainder in tax...

(*) Things like use of home as office, ratio of private/business use of your car etc, depreciation of capital assets, etc.

[Tony Bryer]

uk.business.accountancy ?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Don't even bother. Find a decent accountant. A *decent* one will save you far more than the fees. If you're close to SW London, I can certainly recommend one.

From bitter experience. I tried for a few years to deal with my own tax affairs after going freelance - which is probably simpler than being self employed in a trade etc as all I really supply is my services. The IR did some form of investigation and decided I owed them a considerable sum. If anything I reckoned I'd overpaid as I hadn't been claiming for everything I could have.

Went to an accountant. Who put the fear of god into them. A good one can. And I ended up with a refund slightly greater than the extra amount they were asking for. He went back as far as he could and claimed all the right allowances. And it cost me less than 10% of the amount he got refunded.

[Rick Dipper]

Get yourself a Swiss Bank Account, easyjet only charge 40ish quid to transport you to Zurich / Basel ...... If you can get to Zurich, you don't even need to clear customs., UBS have a branch in the baggage hall. And if you stay out the country enough nights, you become a tax excile. You need 100K to open an account, unless you get a work permit.

If it looks like drug money, even the swiss banks let your details out, if you are worried about this choose Austria, where banking rules are even stricter, but as its EU, its harder to do the Tax Excile thing.

Or take the Swiss Persons approach, open your own bank, in lichenstien, where there are 100's or banks for each person who lives there. You can then negioatiate your Tax with the Swiss authorites.

Rick

[Huge]

No offence, but anyone who takes legal advice from Usenet is out of their tiny little mind.

To the OP; get an accountant.

[Lobster]

Well, every day on uk.d-i-y people ask for, and others dish out, advice on issues which have potentially life-threatening consequences. What's the difference?!

David

[Huge]

The law is arbitrary, complex beyond imagining (the annual Finance Act is bigger than a London Yellow Pages) and requires the performance of apparently pointless rituals which can have *huge* financial consequences many years hence. Much DIY is common sense, or can be worked out by looking at the problem in conjunction with the Screwfix catalogue. None of this is true for law, especially tax law, which is fix piled upon bodge, piled upon apparently contradictory requirements. Schemes which were legal once aren't now, schemes which weren't legal become so if you use a particular form of words, and the Revenue can make up the rules as they go along, through Statutory Instruments. Look at all the fuss that occurs when the two fields meet - the Part P Regs, for example.

There is much I would not do in DIY, and having tried to do my own accounts, I would entirely agree with davesound - get an accountant. Even a halfway competent one will save you more than his fees, and you will sleep easier at night.

And never forget that the Revenue are judge, jury and executioner. And the Customs & Excise (who adminster VAT) make them look like Mary Poppins.

(That being said, I never had any trouble with either of them, mainly because having employed an accountant and done what he said, everything was squeaky clean.)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Perhaps they have a different IMM? Or even several?

[Mark Wood]

Offence taken.

The OP was asking for an 'accountancy type forum' not legal advice. I was; pointing them in a more apt direction and giving them credit for being sensible enough to decide for themselves which, if any, advice they glean from said forum as good or bad - not assuming they have a 'tiny little mind' which, in my book, is pure arrogance.

[Huge]

*plonk*

[Mark Wood]

LOL!

Jesus H....what a complete prat! I should have spotted the 'idiot' tag from the ukmisc email...

Dear oh dear...

*plonker*

[RichardS]

Sign up with

- they're predominantly interested in the IT industry, but have broadened their interest since startup to cover pretty much all of self-employment issues.

The main trio - Andy White, Susie Hughes and Kevin Miller - were instrumental in setting up the PCG, but were unceremoniously ousted a couple of years ago, in part due to offering competing tax investigation insurance from shout99. I left the PCG in disgust (know Kevin from years ago & he's a Good Guy).

There's an "ask an expert" forum there.

As others have said, though, if your tax affairs are anything other than very simple, you really need a decent accountant in this day & age. Brown's made our tax system hugely complex, and the onus is on you to understand the lot of it & get it correct. No mercy is shown if you make mistakes - the revenue rub their hands in glee at that point 'cos they see you as an extra revenue stream via a myriad of penalties.

[Michael Mcneil]

I still haven't forgotten the time he told us there is no such thing as rising damp.

[Michael Mcneil]

Got it bookmarked thanks.