Alternatives to an accountant completing your Self Assessment tax return

Very few people enjoy filling in tax returns. It would be rather odd if they did. Completing a Self Assessment tax return is something you must do, rather than something you enjoy doing.

If you lack knowledge/experience, apart from it seemingly taking ages, having to complete a Self Assessment tax return can make you feel worried. It’s the thought that you’ll make a mistake that will either get you into trouble with HMRC or mean that you end up paying more tax than necessary. And running your own business can be busy and demanding enough without a tax return adding to your stress levels.

Using an accountant

What many sole traders, landlords and others do, of course, is get an accountant to complete their Self Assessment tax return. If you pick an experienced accountant with up-to-date knowledge, it usually means your tax return will be filled in properly and you won’t pay any more tax than necessary. A good accountant might even be able to suggest ways that you can pay less tax. You may have to gather together all of the necessary information, but you can leave the trickier task of filling in and filing the Self Assessment tax return to someone else. Sorted.

Now for the bad news. An accountant may charge a one-off fee for a Self Assessment tax return of £150 up to £300-£500 if your tax affairs are more complex (eg if you live overseas or you earn taxable income from many sources). The higher your income and the more sources of income you have, the higher the accountant’s fee, is normally how it works. Many accountants allow clients to sign up to a monthly payment deal, which spreads the cost. You might think it’s money well spent. Or you might see it as an opportunity to save money and perhaps even pay yourself a few more quid.

Alternatives to an accountant

Bookkeepers can be another option. They’re likely to charge slightly less than an accountant and some have many years’ experience of completing tax returns for clients. If you’re already using a bookkeeper to maintain your financial records, they’ll easily be able to summarise your income and expenses. However, their tax-saving know-how may or may not quite be as good or up to date as an accountant and most bookkeepers (about 90%) do not complete tax returns for clients.

Some people have friends or family members who help them to complete their tax returns. If someone has run their own sole trader business for many years or is a private landlord who does their own tax returns, they may be able to help you to complete a basic Self Assessment tax return. But there are risks. OK, you’ll save money, but their knowledge won’t be superior to that of an experienced small-business accountant. And what if something goes wrong and it ends up costing you time and money?    

Another free option is to complete your own Self Assessment tax return online via HMRC’s online services. Partnerships cannot do this and neither can those who live abroad as a non-resident. HMRC publishes Self Assessment tax return help sheets, however, it can take a while to work through these, and you may not understand all of the information. There’s nothing to prevent you from making mistakes when filling in your Self Assessment tax return directly online.

Self Assessment tax return-filing software

Each year, a huge number of people now use Self Assessment tax return filing software. It’s been designed to make the process as easy as possible, even for those with limited knowledge and experience.

Once you specify your taxable income sources, supplementary pages are automatically loaded up. And prompts within the software explain which information needs to go where, which helps to prevent basic mistakes. You’re swiftly guided through only the parts of the tax return that are relevant to you, which makes the process not only quicker, but also much easier.

Tax return filing software can also give you a reliable idea of how much tax you’re likely to owe. And usually you can try out tax return-filing software before you sign up to a subscription. With so many benefits available, it makes you question why so many people continue to use an accountant for their Self Assessment tax return.  

Blog content is for information purposes and over time may become outdated, although we do strive to keep it current. It's written to help you understand your Tax's and is not to be relied upon as professional accounting, tax and legal advice due to differences in everyone's circumstances. For additional help please contact our support team or HMRC.