Register your relief

It is often said that only two things in life are certain: death and taxes. Home computers cannot do much to stave off death, but they can sometimes help make the calculation and payment of income tax less painful than it used to be. They do this in two ways: first you can submit your tax return online and, second, software is at hand to enable you to calculate your tax liability automatically.

If you have bought or plan to buy the latter then you are in luck: you will not have to get your form in until January 31. If you want the Inland Revenue to do it for you there is a little more urgency: you need to get your figures in by the end of this month. Given that you need to register, receive an activation code through the post and activate it 14 days before the deadline, you are cutting it a little fine.

You start by going to www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk and following the links; if you are confident, you can start the form filling at whichever of the sites listed at www.inland revenue.gov.uk/e-tax. This has links for people with or without accountants and for accountants themselves.

You will need to register whether you are using third party software or not, so if you haven't done so then now would be a good time. If you normally submit through an accountant, you could give them a prod about registering, too. They have to register in a different section but the process is similar. You will be taken to the Government Gateway and will need to enter a few details. Have your tax reference number handy: this plus your postcode enables you to sign up. It is a very straightforward process.

Once you have your code and completed your registration, you can start submitting details. The IR has its own software, called SA. Systems from Sage, QMS, Taxshield and others are available and a comprehensive list is at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/efiling/sa_efiling/sa_software_forms.htm.



Not all are popular: they end up looking like the paper form you are trying to avoid filling in in the first place. One user commented: "The software I have seen looks like it has been specified by an accountant who thinks
people are too thick to fill in
a form rather than by someone who is trying to streamline the process."
Nevertheless, as long as the taxpayer has his books in order, most of the software is simple to use. Given that it works mostly in the same way, I will focus on one of the better-selling, TaxCalc, from the Consumers' Association, but this isn't necessarily an endorsement. It opens with a frightening amount of text that basically works instead of a manual.

You can then click whichever of the forms you need, which will include the basic personal details form, but there are options for partnerships, owner/manager businesses, self-employment, income from property and more. Not all of the software has all of the optional pages: the omissions are set out on the Inland Revenue list
mentioned above. These will affect only a minority.

Filling in the details works much like filling in the paper form, so you do need all of your financial details organised in the first place. Unlike some financial software aimed at consumers, there is no simple question and answer session asking what you earned, what you spent and on what. The figure work is not left up to you, though; the Tax summary button
calculates the amount that will appear on your tax bill for 2002 and no doubt will also take you straight to wherever you keep the brandy.

Usefully, you can hit the Inland Revenue Forms button and everything appears on the screen as it would had you typed it on to a hard copy form. You can then print it out and send it off as if it were one of the Inland Revenue's own forms or submit it electronically. The software packages mostly do this at the touch of a few buttons as long as you have registered properly.

Unlike last year, this year you can bypass the bought software option and enter your details straight on to the web if you wish. This can be a qualified help: one taxpayer told us he submitted electronically last year only to find the IR decided not to send him a paper form at all this year. Since he had forgotten his password, this was a problem, As he already exists on the system he is unable to start the process again and will be phoning for a paper form anyway. Other pitfalls include:

• Getting all your paperwork in order first;
• Understanding what you have paid before and what you haven't. Last year some taxpayers were a little confused about payments they had made "on account" the previous year and as a result their software told them they would owe the IR at least ?1,000 less than they did;
• If you use software such as TaxCalc or something similar but opt to print the form and post it, never forget to sign it before posting: this will delay the processing of your form and you may end up paying fines, technology or not.

In future, things should get simpler: a company called Blueprint3 is working on software that will allow the IR to send forms electronically and receive them securely, so you won't even need to go to the website. For this year, at least you have a couple of weeks before the first deadline.