DIY Tax returns

My accountant does mine (business) £600 last year for a very simple return where I still have to provide all the information:-(>

I should have been an accountant :-)

I assume you didn't do one last year. What has changed - savings interest? That's been a widespread problem since interest rates went up.

Nobody really knows it for sure. Different government agencies (DWP, HMRC) give you different numbers.

They do, but HMRC apparently hasn't worked out how to reliably match the names of bank account holders with the names of taxpayers.

It always says that. They only change it to a positive number when it is overdue, by which time it is too late. Nobody understands why.

So why not DIY and save £600?

I've always found the HMRC online forms sufficient for my needs (employment, self-employment, shares, interest)

Though now I use my accounts package that more or less mimics the HMRC online forms, but pulls the numbers it has out of the accounts data, so I don't pay any extra for filing tax returns, or for an accountant, just enter my regular transactions throughout the year ...

When I have done my self assessment online my state pension has always been filled in for me, with the option to change it. As it has always been within a few £ of what I have received I haven't bothered changing it. For my occupational pension I rely on the December payslip, which includes the tax paid, to save waiting a few weeks for the P60 to become available. (I would guess that your bank dosen't know your National Insurance No so is unable to report your interest receipts.)

Indeed:-) It goes on the books as a business expense.

That usually happens when no payment is outstanding up to that day. You chose to pay before the £280 was due?

Your state pension is an ultra-top=secret. Quiz HMRC and they point at DWP - and vice-versa.

Don't blame the technology - blame the state. At least HMRC allows you to use their in-house software for Self Assessment - and it has worked well enough for a while! In 2015 HMRC fielded 20+ "final" releases of their SA software. It was a classic. With HMRC panic-patching the software, a patch here caused increasing errors elsehere. Just a total meltdown.

That's interesting, I thought they had reported interest before, I wonder if they would use it if I told them what it was?

There has/is a problem with HMRC miscalculating state pension ( too high). It should be 1 week at the previous year rate + 51 x current year rate ( relating to the tax year of interest). Need to keep the letters about the state pension. Usually only a few pounds difference. For other Pensions which tend to be taxed at source you still need to tell HMRC how much tax has been deducted if you want an accurate calculation so you have to wait till after the tax year end. I dread doing the SA for myself and wife, but actually it is quick and relatively easy if you have collected the various bits of paper during the year and downloaded any statement of interest fro saving accounts.

Yikes. mine only charges £230 and does all the online submissions for me (not business,but I used to have a Ltd Co but have closed that).