Where To Find Free & Affordable Tax Help
If you feel like the ducks above when your tax return comes round, don’t worry. There is a lot of affordable help for you out there, if you can’t afford a personal tax consultant. One of the best ways to get tax help without spending a penny is through free tax preparation services.
TaxAid offers a free helpline if you are on a low income (less than £20,000 a year), to ensure you are paying the right amount of tax. Just call during office hours on weekdays. There is also a helpline for voluntary advisors, to get help for clients.
Tax Help for Older People also offers free help, this time for people over 60 on incomes of less than £20,000 a year. It has over 420 volunteers and a national call centre, and can also help you to pay less tax, if you are on a pension. You can call them, or use their web enquiry form.
Contact the government website to check your tax code.
Low-Cost Paid Services
If you don’t qualify for free help, Tax Scouts offers affordable low-cost help for tax returns. It offers three services (depending on type of company – dormant, active or VAT-registered).
And you are then directed to one of their accredited accountants, to file your tax return to HMRC in 48 hours. You can also use their fixed fee service to sort out tax problems. The site also offers free simple book-keeping tools.
England’s Tax System is Too Complicated!
Doing tax returns is very complicated, so much so that people even have to hire bookkeepers or accountants to fill everything in for them. This vegan accountancy firm has a lovely suite of pages of plain-English help.
England seems to have mastered the art of the most complicated tax system in the world:
- Income Tax
- VAT (valued added tax) – different for hot and cold food, and clothes for children and adults
- National Insurance (looks like a tax)
- Capital Gains Tax
- Inheritance Tax
- Council Tax
- Stamp Duty
One wonders if this is an example of what the later writer David Graeber called out – making things complicated in order to create ‘bullshit jobs’ that are not really needed. But skews job figures, and gives work to friends and colleagues.
Most people can spend hours to file a single return, when they could be spending that time running or improving a business. Other people fear earning above a certain amount, fear making mistakes or put off tasks, thinking the wrong information could lead to penalties and fines.
Tax changes means we all have to start learning all over again, and this in turn can affect whether people employ staff. People may miss out on claiming benefits due to tax laws, and carers also often don’t realise they are entitled to financial help, even if they work part-time. A café owner spends evenings on VAT, rather than menus and suppliers.
The obvious solution is rip up the rule book, and start again. Merging income tax bands and combining different taxes, would be a lot easier. Abroad, some countries use a flat tax, where everyone pays the same rate. It’s popular, simple and avoids tax dodging.
Estonia (a country with beautiful forests) pays a flat rate tax of 20%, and is a highly-developed country and enjoys the world’s 12th best standard of living (safe, good public transport, low pollution and excellent healthcare and broadband). The cost of living is also lower than most western European countries.
England’s Tax System is Too Complicated!
Doing tax returns is very complicated, so much so that people even have to hire bookkeepers or accountants to fill everything in for them. This vegan accountancy firm has a lovely suite of pages of plain-English help.
England seems to have mastered the art of the most complicated tax system in the world:
- Income Tax
- VAT (valued added tax) – different for hot and cold food, and clothes for children and adults
- National Insurance (looks like a tax)
- Capital Gains Tax
- Inheritance Tax
- Council Tax
- Stamp Duty
One wonders if this is an example of what the later writer David Graeber called out – making things complicated in order to create ‘bullshit jobs’ that are not really needed. But skews job figures, and gives work to friends and colleagues.
Most people can spend hours to file a single return, when they could be spending that time running or improving a business. Other people fear earning above a certain amount, fear making mistakes or put off tasks, thinking the wrong information could lead to penalties and fines.
Tax changes means we all have to start learning all over again, and this in turn can affect whether people employ staff. People may miss out on claiming benefits due to tax laws, and carers also often don’t realise they are entitled to financial help, even if they work part-time. A café owner spends evenings on VAT, rather than menus and suppliers.
The obvious solution is rip up the rule book, and start again. Merging income tax bands and combining different taxes, would be a lot easier. Abroad, some countries use a flat tax, where everyone pays the same rate. It’s popular, simple and avoids tax dodging.
Estonia (a country with beautiful forests) pays a flat rate tax of 20%, and is a highly-developed country and enjoys the world’s 12th best standard of living (safe, good public transport, low pollution and excellent healthcare and broadband). The cost of living is also lower than most western European countries.
