Learning to do Self assessments!!!

lorraine

Hi All,

I am a licensed MIP in VAT Payroll Bookkeeping & preparation of Financial Statements but would like to learn more about Tax mainly Self assessments Tax Returns, so that I am able to do people self assessment on line for them. Today I turned a potential customer (my 1st enquiry in fact!) away due to lack of experience he wanted help doing Self Assessment, and also only having 2 weeks to do something I havent done before, havent a clue how easy or difficult it is or how long it takes to do, obviously it depends on how up together their accounts etc are.

I have seen people recommend Tolleys tax guide, I have looked on line and it is quite expensive. Does anyobne know where to source it cheaply or any other recommendations for learning about Self Assessments on line. Also is this guide suitable for my request?

Also I would be interested to know how others have aquired the knowledge to be able to do Self Assessments online. Sorry if this seems like a silly question but i am going into unknown territory! I guess you learn from experience. But its kinda catch 22 lol!

Thank you in advance for any answers!

Anne Boleyn

Self Assessments

Hi Lorraine
Before going it alone I worked in practice for about 4 years and obviously learnt a certain amount there. When I started as a MIP I wanted to make sure that I had reference material to hand and so bought Tolley's. It is very comprehensive and I have to say far outweighed my need but it is reassuring to have it there to turn to. It is only expensive in comparison to normal books but given the amount of information contained within it I don't think it is so bad. Also, though I don't know what you would charge for doing a tax return, I imagine the cost would soon be recovered.

When I started I only used the HMRC site (and still do for the majority of my clients) and it guides you through asking mainly yes/no questions. Depending on your answers it puts in the supplementary pages or expands the question for you to give more detail.

My first tax return online was my own so I automatically knew the answers. You need to make sure that you talk to your client and get all the details of income, pensions, bank & bsoc interest, dividends etc from them. However and it still happens occasionally you forget something, if you have already started the return then you can leave it to find additional information from the client and go back at a later stage.

Sorry it's such a long reply.

lorraine

thank you for the reply. much appreciated.

mc25

Lorraine, why dont you try and go for HMRC workshops they are free and you might learn something from there. Hope this helps.

lorraine

thank you I have enquired about workshops on this subject and the next one is in april. thanks for the suggestion.