petition against quarterly tax returns

[hifinutt]

seems we might be in for quarterly tax returns in the future

if you want to register your objections you can sign this petition


https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/115895/

[Desmo]

The vast majority of people are on PAYE, so quarterly tax returns won't be an issue will they?

[Macca]

I think there are quite a few self-employed people here.

[walpurgis]

Why would four tax returns a year be of benefit to the government? This just looks like another bash at people who do not want to work for 'big business'. Any form of independence is viewed as a non-conformist threat to the corporate world.

[struth]

Probably to stop crooks running for a year then absconding with all the tax and vat etc

[Scooby]

HMRC's digital strategy (announced 2014) is for everyone to have their own digital tax account, encompassing PAYE, SA, Tax credits etc. Previously they have spent big sums on error and fraud detection. Now their strategy is prevention, which involves all your tax affairs being linked together. Key to this is having information as close to real-time as possible. There is no way that Annual accounting can fit with this because it's too late to prevent error and fraud by the time people file.

Wheels have been in motion for a long time and the plans are now too far advanced for them to row back. Personally i don't think it will stop with quarterly accounting. Monthly is probably more likely in the long term. The benefits are that taxpayers will find it hard to be on the wrong side of The penalties system for errors. If you file any income figure that conflicts with other systems, you will be alerted to this. Also, you will find some fields are already pre-populated for you, so it's harder again to mis-file.

[ReggieB]

Bum. Doing my accounts is the bit I hate about being self-employed (that and having to regularly 'interview' for new contracts). However, I have to do my VAT quarterly, so I guess it wouldn't be too horrendous doing other taxes at the same time. I'm sure it's going to make my accountant pleased. That said, monthly would be a nightmare.

[Audio Advent]

I don't even get around to invoicing monthly ... sometimes even not for a quarter if I've been particularly frugal and invoiced for a load beforehand.

Sometimes you don't get invoices paid for longer than a month either so monthly surely simply could not work at all.

[Macca]

I don't even get around to invoicing monthly ... sometimes even not for a quarter if I've been particularly frugal and invoiced for a load beforehand.

Sometimes you don't get invoices paid for longer than a month either so monthly surely simply could not work at all.

Surely you would only declare as income the money you had collected at that point in time?