What is a Self Assessment accountant?

A Self Assessment accountant is a tax accountant that specialises in Self Assessment tax returns. 

Now, we know what you’re thinking. What’s a Self Assessment tax return? It’s what you do when you have untaxed income that you have to declare to HMRC. That can be for any of the following reasons:

• You’re self-employed
• You’re a landlord
• You claim tax relief on your pension
• You’ve made money from an investment
• You earn money from side gigs alongside your employment

Do I need a Self Assessment accountant?

This depends on why you need to do a tax return. The general answer is no. It is possible to do your tax return yourself, but the tax industry is notoriously complicated and penalties for making mistakes can be steep. As a general rule, the more simple your tax return, the easier it is to do it correctly on your own.

But accountant or not, you should get prepped where you can:

• Create spreadsheets for each tax year
• Record your income and expenses as you go
• Consider using a business account to separate your personal vs. business expenses
• Do your research – tax accountants can be very costly so the more you understand about what you need, the less likely that you’ll be ripped off

What is a Self Assessment?

A Self Assessment is the way that you let HMRC know that you’re either self-employed, or that you need to do a tax return. 

The deadline to do your Self Assessment online is 5th October in any given year. You can do this directly with HMRC here. 

Filling in your Self Assessment is pretty easy. You’ll just be asked about your different streams of income, along with some personal details. Once you’ve registered, HMRC will send you what’s known as a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number in the post. You will then use this to pay your tax return by 31st January.