Taxes! Does anyone understand them?

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Well here we are at the end of January and as usual I’m filling in my tax return at the last minute. Like most people, I suspect, I really hate doing it, so I end up procrastinating and putting it off endlessly. The worst part is having to chase up all the necessary documents, whether they are actual paper documents or electronic files saved on the computer. The amount of time spent to find out that you earned 15p interest on your savings for example, is just maddening. Now at last I have actually done it – submitted the tax return and paid the bill – yay! But I’m more confused than ever. The online account summary page showed that I had overpaid and was a few hundred pounds in credit, and yet my tax calculation showed that I owed a few thousand pounds, which I duly paid. And then when I looked at the list of previous payments, not all the ones I have made showed up! I have no idea what’s going on. Normally I just pay what I'm told and hope they have got it right. I guess I should try and call HMRC (next month once the rush is over) and hope they can explain it all to me. The problem of course is that once I’ve submitted my return all I want to do is forget about the whole thing! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2023.