How Do I Go About Submitting a Tax Return Without the Help of an Accountant?

Question I hold Power of Attorney (POA) for my Mother who is in a home and pays all her own costs.  Her house is rented out to meet some of these, since February 2010.  The house was empty for 2 months this autumn.  I need to notify the Tax office but I plan to do the return myself to try and save money. Could you please give me some idea how to go about this?

Arthur Weller Replies:
If you are doing the tax return for year ending 5 April 2010 then you will have to submit it online by 31 January 2011. However if you only recently obtained the POA for your mother, you could claim a 'reasonable excuse' claim for late delivery of the self assessment tax return. On the HMRC website one of the examples of a reasonable excuse for late filing is ‘A serious illness has made you incapable of filing your tax return’. In your case, it would (presumably) be your mother's illness, and your recent taking over of her financial affairs.

The return should only include figures for the period when your mother started to rent out the property in February 2010 until 5 April 2010. You need to complete the SA105 UK Property supplementary pages together with the main SA100 pages.