HR Industry News

Tax return revamp

— 10 April 2008 —

Millions of new look tax returns will be dropping onto doormats from this week, following a revamp of the main self assessment (SA) tax return.

The new-look return now has fewer questions, simpler language and an improved layout. It’s designed to be easier to understand and complete for all self-assessment customers but, in particular, for those who are self-employed or who don’t use an accountant to complete their return.

This is the first change to the tax return format since it was introduced in April 1997. A shorter, simpler four-page short tax return was introduced in April 2005 for people within self assessment who have more straightforward tax affairs, including: employees, the self-employed with turnovers below £15,000, and pensioners.  The turnover threshold for the self-employed has been increased to £30,000 from 2007-08.

Other changes to the paper return include:

• A new page for additional information – questions completed by relatively few people about less common types of income and reliefs have been moved to a new, separate ‘Additional Information’ page, which is included in the return pack.
• A new short, self-employment page – a two-page form with fewer boxes to complete is being introduced for smaller, straightforward businesses with an annual turnover below £64,000
• An increased ‘three line account’ threshold – the limit for completing simpler, abbreviated accounts information has been doubled to £30,000.
• Reordered questions – a person’s main source of income is now at the front of the return, rather than the end, ensuring customers answer questions most relevant to them first.

 
A redesigned version of the online self-assessment return is also now available. All the changes were made following a successful two-year pilot, which involved more than 7,000 self-assessment customers. From this year, there are also changes to the self-assessment deadlines – paper returns must now be filed by 31 October, while the deadline for online returns remains at 31 January.

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