shark_90 Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 I got a form P180 quite a while back, and I remembered yesterday that it needed to be sorted before the end of September. So today I rang the tax office to ask them about my mileage allowance, as I only get 12p/mile as opposed to the recommended 40p/mile, so I am entitled to some tax back. They said that the amount of tax I am reclaiming could be more than £2,500 and that I need to fill in a tax return So they're sending me a form out etc and setting me up on their system, apparently. I've never done a tax return (being 21) so what do I have to do? I use my own vehicle for work, use a room as an office... the girl at the tax office mentioned something about reclaiming for electricity! Does anyone know what I might be/am entitled to claim back? I'm currently footing a tax bill for two years of company car use and I could do with any break I can get Any advice would be appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 Sparky asked similar recently. Basically claiming for gas electricity etc. is a pain and has the potential for the companies to charge you comercial rates on part of your bill I think. MrMe looked into it a while ago if memory servers me correctly as well. Filling in the tax return isn't hard. If you do it online which I would suggest there are loads of help files for each section making it nice and easy. Have all of your P60, tax paid on your bank account, tax paid on savings etc. to hand and anything else that you might be earing etc. Put it all into the right boxes and hey presto its done. If you have any problems just call the number and they are happy to help and very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted September 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 Tax that I may have paid on my bank account? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 They will send you a statement once a year in April as they tax the interest they pay you so if you paid no tax you could get some back but if you are earning you have to add the interest to your year's earnings to get the total you earned this year - can be a nuisance if you are on a tax threshold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Tax that I may have paid on my bank account? [/ QUOTE ] You pay tax at the nominal tax amount already. But if you are a 40% tax payer then basically you have to pay more tax on the interest that you have made in interest etc. It affects other things as well but all will become clear on the tax form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milo Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Basically claiming for gas electricity etc. is a pain and has the potential for the companies to charge you comercial rates on part of your bill I think. MrMe looked into it a while ago if memory servers me correctly as well. [/ QUOTE ] 'Twas me I claim an agreed amount for full use of a room from the IR - $350 per year I think at the moment (that is tax on $350 not actually $350). This is agreed with the tax man as a no questions asked amount. You can claim a more exact amount which needs to be supported by utility bills and info on your house i.e. number of rooms etc. I went to the bother of working it out once and for the few extra pounds, it wasn't worth the hassle. Be warned though, by claiming full use of a room, in extreme circumstances (e.g. huge house price inflation) you can be liable for CG tax. To avoid this you can claim for partial use of a room which was about half the amount. Ref mileage, the tax man says as a fuel allowance you can get a maximum of 40p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p per mile after that. Any more than that is classesd as income and is liable for tax. If you get less than that you can get tax relief on the difference. If you get 12p and did 9,000 mile this would be: 9,000 x ($0.40-$0.12) = $2520 You would claim tax relief on this so @ 22% that would be $2520 x 0.22 = $554.40 in your hand. @ 40% it would equal $2520 x 0.4 = $1008 in your hand. Hope that makes sense but PM me if I can help, the tax man and I get along great (PS - I can't get a pound sign on my PC hence the $ ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 Shark. Take my advice. I just been to see my accountant today, and he charges me in the region of £300 for doing my books for a year. This year he's saved me £700 or so from my tax bill just by juggling stuff about. I hate tax forms and filling them in, and he takes all the hassle out of it and saves me money to boot. If I was to sit down and try and figure out what to put in the form, it'd end in divorce. Use an accountant, that's their job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabGirl Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 If you work out your own tax you have until the end of January 2007. It's really simple and you can use something like taxcalc - information is entered using simple forms and they have a lite version that you can download for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRobin Posted September 7, 2006 Report Share Posted September 7, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Shark. Take my advice. I just been to see my accountant today, and he charges me in the region of £300 for doing my books for a year. This year he's saved me £700 or so from my tax bill just by juggling stuff about. I hate tax forms and filling them in, and he takes all the hassle out of it and saves me money to boot. If I was to sit down and try and figure out what to put in the form, it'd end in divorce. Use an accountant, that's their job. [/ QUOTE ] ....I couldn't agree more! Mine (same guy 1981-1999) cost me four-figure sums a year but saved me from paying five-figure sums - Worth every penny. He's still a very close friend and advises me on all my financial affairs - I'm having lunch with him on Monday. The other plus is that a good tax accountant also knows how to negotiate with the IR. Shark, you can reduce your costs to your accountant by following his advice about very simple book-keeping and being organised in keeping receipts etc. He/she will do the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bounce Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Shark. Take my advice. I just been to see my accountant today, and he charges me in the region of £300 for doing my books for a year. This year he's saved me £700 or so from my tax bill just by juggling stuff about. I hate tax forms and filling them in, and he takes all the hassle out of it and saves me money to boot. If I was to sit down and try and figure out what to put in the form, it'd end in divorce. Use an accountant, that's their job. [/ QUOTE ] ....I couldn't agree more! Mine (same guy 1981-1999) cost me four-figure sums a year but saved me from paying five-figure sums - Worth every penny. He's still a very close friend and advises me on all my financial affairs - I'm having lunch with him on Monday. The other plus is that a good tax accountant also knows how to negotiate with the IR. Shark, you can reduce your costs to your accountant by following his advice about very simple book-keeping and being organised in keeping receipts etc. He/she will do the rest. [/ QUOTE ] I'll 3rd that, my husband has done his own most years but it all got a bit crazy so he got an accountant its amazing how much money she has saved us into four figures and we just handed it all over so no hassel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milo Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Rustynuts/Kate/RR - aren't/weren't you or your partners self employed though? In that case I'd definitely use an accountant Shark works for a company therefore what he can claim for in his situation is very limited. As CabGirl points out, there is software available (freeware) that can make the forms really easy to complete. I get the short version of the tax return now (2 pages) and it literally takes me 5 minutes to do 'manually' once I've pulled the information together. If Shark has the 'full' version of the tax return, it can look very daunting as it is quite thick. However when you read it you realise 95% doesn't apply. I think Shark will be in a similar position to me whereby the allowances he can claim for are: Tax relief on his mileage allowance Use of a room as an office A couple of other things that I will PM him about if need be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted September 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Yes, I am employed and therefore there are only certain things I can claim for at the moment. I think in my situation using an accountant may be a false economy Milo, I think I am in exactly the same position as you, you thoughts and advice (by PM if you prefer) would be appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Self employed or not, an accountant does what he does, and I do what I do. I'm useless at filling in forms, and have no idea what I can claim for. Who can you ask? The tax man says they can help you, but that's like the fox guarding the chickens if you ask me. An accountand (if it's just for an employed persons tax return) will charge bugger all really and it'll be done properly, quickly, and with no hassle. I bet he'll find something to claim for which you didn't know about and the tax man conveniently forgot to tell you. Shark, work a couple of hours overtime for a couple of weeks and pay the man to do it for you. This years major saving for me was he told me to pay the wife £2000 for her part in the book keeping for me. I paid myself £2000 less to compensate, and saved £600 tax. Oh, and Shark you do realise that you'll be sent one of these evey year for life now, don't you? Once they start, you can't stop them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milo Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 My first few tax returns were filled in by my mate who is a chartered accountant for Deloitte Hence I know what I can claim for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted September 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Oh, and Shark you do realise that you'll be sent one of these evey year for life now, don't you? Once they start, you can't stop them. [/ QUOTE ] Once you pop... Yet more admin and paperwork I'm no good at then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r3hep Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 send me a PM if you like - heading into major tax season here........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 I don't agree that an accountant can save you a fortune and is worth it for everyone. When you are self employed things are very different to when you are employed. I had my first tax return done by a friend of a friend (an accoutant himself) and he basically said it was simple and next time I should do it myself so I have. I then met a tax adviser in the gym (basically the bloke on the end of the phone on the tax help line). He said not to bother either as if you need any help on anything call us and we are free, he said he speaks to loads of accountants everyday who ask him for free what is right and wrong. I prefer to cut out the middle man as there isn't a chance they can save me what they cost even as a higher rate tax payer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidicks Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 [ QUOTE ] PS - I can't get a pound sign on my PC hence the $ [/ QUOTE ] Milo I have a spare - feel free to copy and paste this one....... <font color="red"> £ </font> Sidicks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r3hep Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 [ QUOTE ] I don't agree that an accountant can save you a fortune and is worth it for everyone. When you are self employed things are very different to when you are employed. I had my first tax return done by a friend of a friend (an accoutant himself) and he basically said it was simple and next time I should do it myself so I have. I then met a tax adviser in the gym (basically the bloke on the end of the phone on the tax help line). He said not to bother either as if you need any help on anything call us and we are free, he said he speaks to loads of accountants everyday who ask him for free what is right and wrong. I prefer to cut out the middle man as there isn't a chance they can save me what they cost even as a higher rate tax payer. [/ QUOTE ] One of the most annoying questions to be asked when people know you do tax is "how can i save tax?" when they are only employed. However, there are varying degrees of "employed" from the high net worth owner-managed company directors where an accountant/tax specialist is invaluable in extracting funds in the most tax efficient way and as long as costs do not exceed the savings it is a benefit to the average higher rate taxpayer who only needs to fill in a return cos he has to pay a bit more tax on his bank interest - in the latter case it really isn't worth it financially but could be for peace of mind. We deal with a lot of people who on a purely financial level could do without the burden of an accountants' fees but for peace of mind and the sheer fact that the forms scare them silly we are worth our weight in gold. It all depends on personal circumstances...... anyway - tax returns..... i love 'em! ;o) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Whether my accountant saves me anything or not, I still use him for the simple fact that I can't honestly say I'm comfortable filling in forms, and giving the correct pertinent information, when the person at the other end already knows what I should be putting down and is going to make my life as complicated as hell if I get something wrong. I don't want to fill in forms for a living or part time even, I repair boilers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Fair enough. I've done mine for the last few years and as long as I put the right pieces of paper in the right place to add them into the right box I've had no issues. No real advantage for me to use them, both my parents are self employed and they are worth it for them but not for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilharley1 Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Shark 90. I have not posted on this site before, but have been lurking for a few weeks. Was introduced to the site by a good friend, Soulboy (sorry to name drop, but I believe he will vouch for me). Basically, I would like to help. I run my own tax consultancy business, specialising in this very area, reclaiming tax for employed people. Our normal terms would be to retain 30% of any tax saving we achieve, but would be more than happy to waive this, on this occasion. Also, as stated above, the deadline is actually 31st January 2007, assuming you calculate your own repayment. If interested let me know and we can discuss the logistics etc. at a later date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Hi Neil, and a warm welcome from me. Very generous of you to volunteer your services. Keep quiet though, or they'll all be on to you for free assistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilharley1 Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Cheers Rusty. Was advised that this was a site where people helped one another and thought, why not. I am in a position to help. I may need help myself soon. Been reading so much on here about people's problems, split ups etc. Just going there myself unfortunately so, no doubt I will be on over the next few weeks looking for shoulders to cry on etc. Women eh??? You gotta love 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r3hep Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 tax and a broken heart..... i think i have found my alter ego!!! Welcome aboard!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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