Savings Allowance and soon to breach into 40% tax band

[Lootman]

But it's such a pain:

- there is no software that I know of to do electronic one on my sort of computer
- you are forced to keep records, altogether
- you are forced to keep records for 6 or so years
- you have additional deadlines now, compared to having no deadlines via PAYE
- there are (legal) penalties if you get any of the details wrong

Whether or not you are doing a tax return you are “required” to keep records and there are penalties if you get things wrong. In fact submitting a correct tax return puts the onus on HMRC.

You are not "forced" or "required" to keep records. And at least with my taxes I do not have to provide any documents alongside my return. It is more that if the taxman asks me to prove that the information I submitted is correct then I may struggle more to prove that without such records. But it is almost always possible to recreate documentation if needed and, as long as your returns are accurate, then you will probably never be asked to produce such records. The last time they asked me for an original document was in the 1990s!

Put simply - you want to be doing so well that you have to pay tax. If you have a visceral dislike of paying taxes then become poor or do lots of manoeuvring (but be sure to keep good records in case HMRC decide to check).

It is perfectly legal and ethical to seek to minimise one's taxes, and to discuss that here. But discussing whether tax is "good" or "bad" is off-topic on this board which is Taxes - Practical.

Doing a tax return is really not onerous if you keep good records.

It doesn't matter what records you keep if you are being told that there are 13 months in a year and simple arithmetic can't be done by the tax man.

There are not 13 months in a year according to the taxman or anyone else that I know of. There are 13 periods of 4 weeks in a year, although the only thing I can think of that is paid that way is the state pension, and that is best handled using the weekly figure anyway.

Some payments are handled on a receipt basis and some on an accrual basis. It is helpful to know which is which but unless the amounts involved are huge then it won't make a material difference.