Enter Your Question Title Here Self Assessment

[waterbitch]

As I understand it the government is abolishing self assessment tax returns,not only this but saying they must be filled out 4 times a year on line.Now I have one house I rent out, am on a pension and am not computer literate.This new law will really screw me up,as it stands now I have trouble with the annual form as my husband is dyslexic and I struggle with technology. I would not know where to start filling an online form and putting it on' file', Thinking of evicting the tenant and selling up so worried,will these new laws apply to me,as hardly a business,Would be grateful for help here.

[fiction-factory]

It's being phased in over 5 years so you have time to adapt. You can also use the services of an accountant to submit these

[Islay]

If you don't understand anything on the form you can always ring them - I find that 8am is the best time to ring.

It is cheaper for HMRC to do this after they have had their budget cut by 40%.

[Buenchico]

I have heard nothing, and can find nothing online, about HMRC abolishing annual paper returns for self-employed people (and for others who are required to submit such forms).

I suspect that you're getting confused with the changes that require small businesses to use electronic filing to record payments made to employees. Businesses and individuals without any employees are unaffected by those changes and can continue to use paper filing.

However online filing is actually considerably easier than paper filing. With the paper forms you have to wade through loads of questions that don't actually concern you. With electronic filing the system recognises which questions you do, and don't, need to answer and only presents you with the relevant ones. It only takes me a couple of minutes to submit my annual tax return online.

[fiction-factory]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/564658/George-Osborne-plans-scrap-self-assessment-income-tax-returns
There was this, Buenchico

[fiction-factory]

5102 hcraM ESM morF .The Chancellor today announced that from early 2016 a new digital tax account will replace the current system, ending paper returns completely and online return in their current form.

However, not everyone who is on self-assessment at the moment will go straight into the new system.

The first wave next year will see 10 million enrolled plus all five million small businesses eligible. The additional two million people who are left out, plus any person or business that falls under these rules in the meantime, must continue to file as normal. The Treasury says everyone will be enrolled by 2020.

Taxpayers on this system can choose to pay tax in a 'pay as you go' manner or as a lump sum later on.

HMRC insists it will help those without online access under the new system.

Nearer the time, HMRC says it will notify those affect

[fiction-factory]

Does anyone else find some words are typed backwards in the AB answer box?

[Buenchico]

My googling skills obviously aren't as good as they used to be, F-F ;-)

However I note this line from your link: "People who prefer the existing system will not be forced to switch".

So I still think Waterbitch is worrying over nothing!

[waterbitch]

thanks guys,but can't afford an accountant as this house is cheap rent and already is costing in repairs,it's just a bit on top of our pension.Plus have no idea how to file and retrieve anything,(have tried)this year tried to phone them they did not answer,so I wrote they rang me 4 months later! I have no address so everything is c/o and they sent the wrong forms,so may as well give tenant notice as it's not worth the stress at our age now,

[fiction-factory]

I noticed that line too, Buenchico, but my recollection was that it was about paying in instalments or something. It might be worth us looking again if we get chance

[Islay]

If you have filled in returns already then the chances are even after you have sold the house you will have to continue filling in returns for a few years.

[woofgang]

I agree with Chris that the online form is a cinch compared to the paper version. faster, easier, less faff and you KNOW that they have received it.

[Peter Pedant]

Water if you really ARE making so little that you cant afford an accountant then you should be thinking of selling the house

It ( acct fee ) will be a few hundred - countable against tax - and if the rent is a low national average ( £500 pcm) then the income before expenses is £6000. I have poured money into accountants pockets since 1985 and never regretted it for a minute ( but then my mother did get screwed for tax fraud which cost us mucho mucho moolah ) - and they ( accts) all file electronically. And since I get a print out it doesnt look that complicated

For your rents you would almost certainly be 'three line'
income/expenses/profit ....

[waterbitch]

We are thinking os selling,but the tenant has been there for 10 years,is disabled and has usually paid up on time,,but we are not getting much in the way of rent due to repairs,area and the fact that our tenant is on disabled benefits,so an accountant will further deplete the rental,so do I sling her out and sell,it's a moral problem as well as a financial,plus at 70 I find the internet a scary thing to use almost as scary as the tax man.

[Peter Pedant]

no it is not a moral problem

you are a landlord and not a moralist nor a saint

chuck em out and sell - sell above their heads ...
otherwise move into the 21st century ....

[Bathsheba]

Feeling your pain waterbitch....my husband's dyslexic +I'm terrified of online official forms.
Sorry can't be any help, good luck!

Baths
x x

[fiction-factory]

waterbitch- it's worth looking at the fine details of the change. In an article in The Times on Saturday I noticed that the system of quarterly online returns by 2018 doesn't seem to apply where the income from letting is less than £10000 a year, so you may not fall under the new regime

[waterbitch]

thanks everyone for your help,we do get far less than £10.000 per annum so fingers crossed they'll leave us be