ProperCharlie

a friend of mine was asking what is the best strategy for declaring any interest earned when you fill in your self assessment? i should think many people don't bother as it is only a few hundred pounds at the most, on which basic rate tax has already been deducted on any case, but it seems like a bit of a pain to go through 4 or 5 different accounts adding up all the pennies paid. also, some are internet only accounts so they would have to try and access a whole year's worth of statements over the 'net.

all hypothetically, of course.

kend

Most banks will send an annual summary, just after end of financial year, including total interest/tax paid over the year.

It's probably not worth fiddling / forgetting to put this bit in. The inland revenue will investigate about 10% of self assessment forms, some picked at random, and some if anything looks out of the ordinary on the form. If you get investigated, and it's noticed that this was 'forgotten', it will trigger a fine, likely to be much bigger than the undeclared income, the tax will have to be paid ( with interest ), and also they may choose to investigate previous years returns.

For the few quid in tax / couple of minutes of time, it is likely to save, probably not worth cutting the corner.

ProperCharlie

cheers for that kend - i kind of agree that the amount of tax that will have to be paid is so small it's hardly worth not doing it. so basically the banks should be able to say what interest has been paid in the financial year? i'll speak to them next month, then. want to get my assessment in as early as possible as the IR have over estimated what i should pay them for this year