Location: Ipswich, UK

Category: Self Assessment

Bookkeeping, Self Assessment and Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

How does the transition from Self Assessment to Making Tax Digital work?

Tax is changing! But not for everyone. Here’s a quick reminder of what’s changing this year and for whom. 2026-27 (tax year starting 6th April 2026) Making Tax Digital (MTD) only starts on 6th April 2026 if the total self-employed and rental income (before expenses) shown on your 2024-25 tax return was over £50,000. If…
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Can I still use spreadsheets to keep my bookkeeping records?

The short answer is – yes, you can – but here are some factors to consider: Which tax system are you in? If you’re in Self Assessment, spreadsheets are absolutely fine. You can keep your records in a spreadsheet and manually transfer the totals onto your tax return once a year. If HMRC have moved…
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A self-employed view of the 2025 Budget

The run up to yesterday’s budget was chaotic. Widespread scaremongering about tax rises and VAT registration threshold drops caused a lot of uncertainty, but the 2025 Autumn Budget could have been a lot worse for self-employed people. Income tax, National Insurance and VAT The freeze in income tax and National Insurance (NI) thresholds has been…
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Is Self Assessment dead?

A brief history of Self Assessment Self Assessment was first introduced in 1995-96. At that point, the tax system changed from working on a “preceding year basis of assessment” to a current year basis, which reduced the delay between a sole trader earning the profits and finding out how much tax was due. Under the…
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