Nimrod103 wrote:I agree that everybody making a tax return is a good idea. When I lived in Singapore (a long time ago) as I recall this was the system, and the tax assessment was made at the end of the tax year, and the tax then duly became payable. Since the figures for the tax year were finalised, there was none of this guesswork and payment on account, or adjusting people's tax codes numerous times during the year which happens in the UK now..
Yes. But you do realise why this occurs now? It is a direct consequence of the system we have now! Before Osborne it was largely unnecessary for many people who were on fixed wages/salaries/pensions.
Take me, I was retired I had a pension. What that fixed pension was, for the year ahead, was known to HMRC and myself at the start of the tax year - as it is now, as it also is now for my SP. The tax code and tax were fixed and known at the start of the year, they were deducted by 'PAYE'. That is why all I needed for my personal 'tax SA' for the year ahead was a Post-It-Note and a couple of minutes time. Did I have other, variable income (such as interest and dividends)? Yes I did. But, as they were taxed at source, everything was done and dusted before even the start of the tax year. And no HMRC SA necessary.
That's what I call simple!
Yes, now my Tax Code is not infrequently adjusted also - in semi real time - during the tax year. My Personal Tax Code can represent a negative Personal Tax Allowance, as it does currently. Why? Because, of course, the figures for tax deductions are not known at the start of the year, even to me. The tax on my pension is no longer simply tax on my pension, it is tax on my pension plus tax on my state pension plus tax on my (variable) interest plus tax on my (variable) share dividends. Plus I now need to do an HMRC SA - can you see why?
I call this 'complicated' - not unreasonably so, I feel.