Hi. I’m a freelancer/sole-trader who does work that is both taxed at source (PAYE) and invoiced (Self assessment) for various clients and companies. I’m just getting started on QuickFile, but I can’t see any way of inputting my PAYE clients and income in the system. I know previous discussions have highlighted the theory that this could result in being taxed twice, however I wanted to also input the tax and NI already deducted (either as a loss, deduction, or ‘expense’).
As I still have to enter the PAYE figures in my self assessment (SA102 section) each year, I really wanted some way of displaying all my income in one account. I’d then be able to separate the sections, using tags for example, when completing my end of year assessment. Obviously with things going digital at some point, I think there needs to be a way of doing this?
As you rightfully mention, PAYE shouldn’t really be included in QuickFile, for a few reasons - besides the tax calculation, it could potentially make it more difficult to leave a clear audit trail should HMRC raise any queries about the account activity. Besides that, the PAYE income isn’t business activity but rather employment.
However, that said, you can enter figures into the tax summary report, which may help. There’s more on this in the following post (although the post refers to pensions rather than employment):
To add to that, when it came to doing my own self assessment for 16-17, my PAYE figures had already been filled in by HMRC as they hold this information from RTI submissions. I’m unsure if this has rolled out to everyone or if it’s just a select few, but it saved me a job.
Thanks for your reply, I’ll have a look at the tax summary report part and see if that would work.
I still feel this should be a feature if this service/software is to be aimed at freelancers & sole traders, especially with the aim to integrate MTD when the time comes. PAYE makes up about 75% of my annual income, so is a huge part of my financial picture for the year. Also, as I work at multiple companies for anything between 1 week and a few months, I get put automatically on BR tax code. This means that when my assessment comes round, I’m usually due a refund from over paying tax on that part, so being able to see an accumulative break down of gross income, tax and NI paid would help me keep track of this.
I currently enter this information on a ‘dumb’ spreadsheet monthly, so would need to add roughly 20 of these additional income sections to the tax summary. I may be wrong, but I then wouldn’t see this information in my dashboard overview? I also wouldn’t see what is still outstanding and what has been paid as I would if I entered the information in the invoice style?
I’m sure there are plenty of others in a similar situation (especially in todays ‘gig economy’!) and it sounds like the path to MTD will mean this is something I will need to submit every quarter, so was hoping to do that through one piece of ‘software’.
We welcome suggestions for any parts of QuickFile. Most of the are implemented on the basis of support from the community.
QuickFile is geared more towards one set up (e.g. one account for one business), so there is currently no way of recording any PAYE income. Even with MTD, it won’t necessarily include all income streams - this is where your HMRC Personal Tax Account would come in. MTD will be focused on business income, in this case, from self employment.
Admittedly, there are still elements of MTD overall that need be clarified by HMRC, but this will be done in time - we will address these as and when things are more clearer.
You may wish to look at a HMRC Personal Tax account, which would show you your current position including PAYE from employment. As I mentioned above, all employers (although there may be some exceptions) use RTI - Real Time Information - and submit figures to HMRC when they run payroll. As such, these figures are pulled into your Personal Tax Account for you to see.