Tax is Taxing...

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	Topic: Tax is Taxing...
Posted : 26/01/10 / Views : 1544 / Replies : 13 /
fortworth 21 posts last on: 37 min send private reply	Hey there. I'm really confused. I managed to file my tax return online the other week and have noticed that I have had my overpaid tax returned for my main 'job' but non of my 'acting expenses'. Obviously I wasn't able to provide any of my receipts online; I thought Inland Rev would contact me so I could send them in. Have I done something wrong here? Was I meant to fill in more online than simply a 'pounds and pence figure'? Thanks all. Chris.

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	Reply #1
Posted : 25/01/10
leeravitz 1543 posts last on: 20 hours send private reply	I'm hardly an accountancy expert, Chris, and I never fill my tax form in online (I do the 'Short Tax Form' in paper format, for preference), but I assume you started by making a distinction between day job work and acting work. Acting work is self - employment; most day jobs (unless those, also, work on a sort of 'piecework' basis) rate as contracted work (including working via temp agencies). The Inland Revenue always ask that the distinction be pointed out when you are filling in the tax return because most contracted work is taxed at source (i.e. is PAYE, and you should have chits signed off against it when you are paid). Therefore, you have already been taxed on these amounts, and will not be charged again. Self-employed work is declared for the sake of being taxed at the end of the year. If you are earning below a certain threshold sum (which I assume you are, as it is something in excess of about £60,000 a year!), for all intents and purposes, all self - employed work is considered to contribute to the same basic profit and loss sums. This is clearer if you fill in a paper form, and you may have been confused by distinctions made online - I'm not sure. What this means, as far as I am aware, is that the TOTAL profit will be offset against the TOTAL loss for the self-employed work as a whole, and you will be paid back any money you are owed as a lump sum without any distinction being shown as to which jobs precisely earned you what. Similarly, your expenses, as far as they go, are considered as a general average outlay. This is one reason accountants can find loopholes by 'averaging up', say, something like 'reasonable costs for maintaining your phone for business purposes' and get away with it if the claim is reasonable, thereby saving you money, without worrying too much about the details. So, I would imagine (though I may be wrong) that the sum you have been told you will receive covers everything you have declared for.

Reply #1

Posted : 25/01/10

leeravitz
1543 posts
last on: 20 hours
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I'm hardly an accountancy expert, Chris, and I never fill my tax form in online (I do the 'Short Tax Form' in paper format, for preference), but I assume you started by making a distinction between day job work and acting work. Acting work is self - employment; most day jobs (unless those, also, work on a sort of 'piecework' basis) rate as contracted work (including working via temp agencies). The Inland Revenue always ask that the distinction be pointed out when you are filling in the tax return because most contracted work is taxed at source (i.e. is PAYE, and you should have chits signed off against it when you are paid). Therefore, you have already been taxed on these amounts, and will not be charged again.

Self-employed work is declared for the sake of being taxed at the end of the year. If you are earning below a certain threshold sum (which I assume you are, as it is something in excess of about £60,000 a year!), for all intents and purposes, *all* self - employed work is considered to contribute to the same basic profit and loss sums. This is clearer if you fill in a paper form, and you may have been confused by distinctions made online - I'm not sure. What this means, as far as I am aware, is that the TOTAL profit will be offset against the TOTAL loss for the self-employed work as a whole, and you will be paid back any money you are owed as a lump sum without any distinction being shown as to which jobs precisely earned you what. Similarly, your expenses, as far as they go, are considered as a general average outlay. This is one reason accountants can find loopholes by 'averaging up', say, something like 'reasonable costs for maintaining your phone for business purposes' and get away with it if the claim is reasonable, thereby saving you money, without worrying too much about the details. So, I would imagine (though I may be wrong) that the sum you have been told you will receive covers everything you have declared for.

	Reply #2
Posted : 25/01/10
torya 129 posts last on: 6 hours send private reply	Hi, I may have misunderstood you, but do you mean that you expected to have the "expenses" amount paid back to you by the tax office? If so, the way it works is that you fill in everything you have spent on your job over the year (your expenses), then this is taken away from the total you have been paid through acting work to give your remaining income for the year. The size of this figure dictates how much tax you pay or are paid. You don't get the expenses returned to you in the same way that, for example, audition expenses or expenses for a short film might be paid. Apologies if I have misunderstood you, but that's how I read your post! Hope this helps.

Reply #2

Posted : 25/01/10

torya
129 posts
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Hi, I may have misunderstood you, but do you mean that you expected to have the "expenses" amount paid back to you by the tax office?

If so, the way it works is that you fill in everything you have spent on your job over the year (your expenses), then this is taken away from the total you have been paid through acting work to give your remaining income for the year. The size of this figure dictates how much tax you pay or are paid. You don't get the expenses returned to you in the same way that, for example, audition expenses or expenses for a short film might be paid.

Apologies if I have misunderstood you, but that's how I read your post! Hope this helps.

	Reply #3
Posted : 26/01/10
fortworth 21 posts last on: 37 min send private reply	Wow, okay. Thanks. So what the main idea is all expenses are deducted from your income? And if your grand total in come for the year is '£0.00' you aren't going to be reinbursed any expenses (Spotlight, Equity et al.)? Thanks anyway, guys. Chris x

	Reply #4
Posted : 26/01/10
helengrady 167 posts last on: 05/02/12 send private reply	You're probably not alone in your confusion. You can often hear people make remarks like: "it's all tax deductible, so you don't need to worry". This can give the impression that somehow you get back the money that you spend on legitimate business expenses (as you might, for example, if you were employed and your employer reimbursed you for your train fare or travel expenses when attending a conference). If you are self-employed then the only person paying for these expenses is you, there isn't anyone else who can pay for them! What it does mean is that you can offset your expenses against your tax liability. So if you earn £8000 in the year as a self-employed actor and you have £3000 in business expenses (providing you can you can back up then up with receipts) then HMRC will assess your self-employed income as £5000 rather than £8000.

Reply #4

Posted : 26/01/10

helengrady
167 posts
last on: 05/02/12
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You're probably not alone in your confusion. You can often hear people make remarks like: "it's all tax deductible, so you don't need to worry". This can give the impression that somehow you get back the money that you spend on legitimate business expenses (as you might, for example, if you were employed and your employer reimbursed you for your train fare or travel expenses when attending a conference). If you are self-employed then the only person paying for these expenses is you, there isn't anyone else who can pay for them! What it does mean is that you can offset your expenses against your tax liability. So if you earn £8000 in the year as a self-employed actor and you have £3000 in business expenses (providing you can you can back up then up with receipts) then HMRC will assess your self-employed income as £5000 rather than £8000.

	Reply #5
Posted : 26/01/10
Glenn.Speers 221 posts last on: 13 min send private reply	I am sitting doing my year's tax return online right now ( last minute larry, that is me ) and I've just locked my self out of the online forms for two hours because I got my password wrong three times ( eejit ). Also just discovered that a new Activation PIN is required to be posted to me by mail, which means my tax return will be late and I will get a nice 100 quid fine. So I am away for a long walk and will learn lots of good shit from this comedy of errors ie get a bloody accountant next year !

Reply #5

Posted : 26/01/10

Glenn.Speers
221 posts
last on: 13 min
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I am sitting doing my year's tax return online right now ( last minute larry, that is me ) and I've just locked my self out of the online forms for two hours because I got my password wrong three times ( eejit ).
Also just discovered that a new Activation PIN is required to be posted to me by mail, which means my tax return will be late and I will get a nice 100 quid fine.
So I am away for a long walk and will learn lots of good shit from this comedy of errors ie get a bloody accountant next year !

	Reply #6
Posted : 26/01/10
Owen 66 posts last on: 1 hour send private reply	Did exactly the same as you Glenn, now waiting for my PIN to arrive in the post...silly me leaving it til the last minute!

	Reply #7
Posted : 26/01/10
fortworth 21 posts last on: 37 min send private reply	Lol - thanks again y'all. (By the way, I locked myself out at the end of the online process because it asks for you password AGAIN and I only had half of it. Nightmare!) Chris

	Reply #8
Posted : 26/01/10
Glenn.Speers 221 posts last on: 13 min send private reply	Yep that's it, back to good old paper forms next year methinks. Technology the way forward ?? Me @rse !

	Reply #9
Posted : 26/01/10
Glenn.Speers 221 posts last on: 13 min send private reply	Actually was wrong about the activation PIN. I use the same one one I used last year ( spanner ! ) Tax returns done, no fine for late submission. Technology I forgive you. Cold beer time.

	Reply #10
Posted : 26/01/10
fortworth 21 posts last on: 37 min send private reply	So fickle, Glenn.... ;) C

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