big brother's view

The end of October marks the last day for handing in your tax self assessment forms. Although you can file on-line until the end of January.

And the postal strike makes things more interesting. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) site is not very helpful. It tells you to make sure you post early. No excuse accepted.

I normally avoid everything to do with form filling. I worry about facing fines if I make a mistake. The last two years I had an accountant file my return for me. This year I decided to do it myself. “It can’t be that hard”, I thought. “Save money and get to know my business better.”

I booked myself onto a HMRC workshop. A whole morning on tax returns. It was very useful. The tax man (or tax woman in this case) appeared to be quite human.

She said that they did not expect us to be accountants. As long as we made a genuine effort to get the calculations correct, we would not be fined for mistakes. Just charged the outstanding amount with interest.

An interesting statement. My accountant estimated several of the more complex calculations. I do not think I was getting value for money from them. Another reason to file for myself.

Stevenage tax office is in Southgate House. The building next to mine. You can see it in silhouetted in this sunrise picture Whilst I was there, I took a picture of my flat. Not very good quality, but that’s camera phones for you.

I realised how easy it is to see into my my home from these offices.

Makes it nice and easy for the tax man to check on me.