How it works

After our initial telephone conversation, if we believe we can recover more tax than our fee, we will send you out a letter of engagement, and an information-gathering questionnaire to allow us to prepare a draft tax return.

If you are not already registered for self assessment with the HMRC, we will invite you to either register online yourself, or permit us to do it on your behalf.

We will then prepare a draft tax return and tax calculation for your approval. The draft will contain the details of your bank account you wish the HMRC to directly remit any rebates to. We never request the HMRC to pay us first as an intermediary.

Once we have received your written authority to file the approved tax return, and your payment of our fee, we will submit it to the HMRC. We will provide you with an HMRC-receipted copy of the return to prove a successful filing. Most taxpayers receive a rebate within a month of filing their return.

A word of caution - It could be a case of opening Pandora's Box

Many taxpayers fail to claim the legitimate deductions against their employed taxable income. These include claiming:

• The marginal tax relief on their pension contributions deducted by their employer over the tax year. These amounts are shown on their payslip, which are automatically adjusted for basic rate tax at source. If they are a higher-rate taxpayer, they can claim the marginal extra tax relief.
• The costs of belonging to mandated or essential professional bodies and various institutes as part of their professional role.
• For any tax overpayment that arise from the application of an inappropriate tax code issued by the HMRC and used by your employer.

The best way of ensuring you only pay the correct amount of income tax each year is to prepare a complete and accurate tax return and compare the calculated tax due against what was paid to the HMRC … And therein lies the rub.

Once you have registered for self assessment, you are committed to submitting tax returns in future years until the HMRC advise otherwise.

While it is likely you will be able to continue claiming tax rebates in future years, a change in personal circumstances may result in you having to pay extra tax instead.

Ignorance is bliss … The underlying legal obligation of Self Assessment requires a taxpayer to voluntarily register with the HMRC when they become aware they receive untaxed income. There are financial penalties for failing to do so.

Ignorance of the law is never accepted as a valid defense for failing to pay tax when it is due, but we can understand why some people will prefer not to take the chance of a win today, but a loss tomorrow. Once you embark on this particular journey, there is no going back.