Taking the stress out of filing your self assessment tax return

Some people suffer undue anxiety preparing and making a tax return each year. Leaving it to the last possible moment only adds to the stress, and increases the risk of a late filing penalty if the 31st January filing deadline is missed.

There is an alternative. Filing tax returns for us is a straightforward routine process we carry out for our clients every year. Let us take the strain.

Cost: Our standard charge for filing a 2024-25 personal tax return is £65.

Your Next Step: Call 01202 474545 and discover why our clients leave filing their returns to us.

How it works

We will first send you a letter that sets out the terms of engagement and explains our respective obligations to complete the filing of your tax return with the HMRC for the 2024-25 tax year. It will also state the fixed cost of providing the service that will only change by prior agreement if it transpires your tax affairs are more complex than anticipated.

In accordance with our legal obligations, we will ask you to provide documents to verify your identity as part of the engagement process.

MAAP Accountants is a registered Self Assessment Tax Agent. If you have received a formal notice from the HMRC that you must file a Self Assessment tax return before 31 January 2026, we will need your Uniques Tax Reference (UTR) to allow us to complete the filing process on your behalf.

The UK Self Assessment tax legislation places the burden on the individual taxpayer to register with the HMRC and make a tax return to declare any taxable income each year. If you are concerned that you may be in receipt of income that should be declared to the HMRC, please call us on 01202 474545 to discuss whether you need to register for Self Assessment. We make no charge for giving such advice. If the need arises, we can register you with the HMRC as part of the engagement process.

Once the engagement process has been satisfactorily completed, we will invite you to send us the information we will need to prepare a draft tax return. We will send you copy of the draft for your approval and answer any questions that may arise about the content and the tax-filing process. We will also include a tax calculation of the amount of tax due, together with details of how and when it should be paid. In the event you are due a tax rebate (it does happen occasionally), we will ask you for details of your bank account to include in the tax return instructing the HMRC where to remit the refund directly back to you. We never ask the HMRC to pay us first as an intermediary.

Once you have provided us with your written authority to file the approved tax return with the HMRC, and paid the agreed fee, we will send the return to the HMRC. We will provide you with an HMRC-receipted version of the tax return, which you can retain as proof of filing with the HMRC.

It is possible that you may become aware of a need to amend the filed tax return after the event. We can easily change (repair) a filed return for up to one year from the relevant filing deadline.

Tips on how to help you, help us.

How many times have you wasted hours turning the place upside down trying find that missing piece of paper you now need? We have all been there.

The best way of dealing with collating the documents we will need to process your tax return, is to set up a lever-arch file (Tax File), with dividers for each relevant source of income and expenditure.

Most taxpayers start receiving their relevant P.60's and investment house statements of taxable income and tax deduction made, in the immediate months following the end of the fiscal tax year on the 5th April. If you place copies of the relevant documents on your Tax File as soon as you receive them, it reduces the risk of losing them when needed. When you are satisfied you have collated all the relevant information, you can either deliver the hard copy of the file to us, or scan the contents and send it to us by email.

We recommend using a physical leaver-arch file and dividers, because you can use it each year to remind you of what information is needed. Unfortunately, the days of telephoning a third party to request a copy of a missing document has long past. You are more likely to find all contact telephone numbers are no longer publicised, and you are forced to suffer completing an online inquiry form you will be forgiven for believing is linked to a black hole. If there is one reason to justify why you should aim to complete your tax return sooner rather than later, is the frustrating delays you will experience learning how to contact the relevant departments to request a copy of what you need.

For the more IT-literate amongst you, there is no reason why you cannot set up a virtual Tax File and just email us the contents when you are ready.

You can download our checklist of the typical information you will need to supply to allow us to prepare your tax return. [PDF] [ MS Excel]