Self Assessment in FreeAgent

This article explains how Self Assessment works in FreeAgent.

Self Assessment is the area of FreeAgent where income tax is worked out for a personal Self Assessment tax return. This will be based on your business's accounts if you're a sole trader, your salary and dividends if you're a director of a limited company and your property income and costs if you’re an unincorporated landlord.

Please note that if you're a partner, secretary, shareholder or employee, you won't be able to use FreeAgent to file Self Assessment to HMRC. However, you will be able to refer to the information that FreeAgent generates in your FreeAgent account when you come to complete your tax return.

Once you've filed your Self Assessment return and paid your tax bill to HMRC, find out how to explain a Self Assessment payment to HMRC.

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Navigating to your Self Assessment tax return

Navigate to the ‘Taxes’ tab at the top of the screen and select ‘Self Assessment’ from the drop-down menu.

'Taxes' drop-down menu with 'Self Assessment' highlighted.

Select the relevant user from the drop-down menu (if applicable). FreeAgent calculates Self Assessment for all users except those allocated the role of 'Accountant'.

Example users highlighted in drop-down menu.

Select the relevant tax year. The year in which your FreeAgent start date falls is the earliest tax year you can access in FreeAgent. Please note that FreeAgent's Self Assessment functionality for unincorporated landlords will only be available from the 2022/23 tax year onwards.

Tax year column highlighted on Self Assessment Summary page.

Alternatively, you can navigate to the tax year from the drop-down menu.

Tax years highlighted in 'History' drop-down menu.

There are six tabs for all account types: Main Return, Employment, Self-Employment, UK Property, Tax Adjustments, and Your Tax Breakdown.

Six tabs beneath Self Assessment form title highlighted.

The colours and box numbers mirror those on your tax return so that it's easy to put the right number in the right box when you're completing your tax return. For example, this is what a self-employed individual would see on the Self-employment page if they're a sole trader.

Boxes 9 to 10.1 on the Self Assessment form for detailing Business income.

Boxes 17 to 32 on the Self Assessment form for 'Calculating your taxable profit' and ' Total taxable profits or net business loss'.

The Your Tax Breakdown tab

The 'Your Tax Breakdown' tab gives you a detailed breakdown of how your income is added up and your tax worked out.

The 'Your Tax Breakdown' tab highlighted as final of six tabs.

Completing your Self Assessment tax return

If you have other figures to put in, such as bank interest received, or other dividends received, you can enter these directly on the Main Return page.

'Main Return' tab highlighted as first of six tabs.

Bank interest

Located under 'UK interest and dividends' on the Main Return page, you can enter your taxed bank interest in box 1 and/or untaxed interest in box 2. If you have more than one interest-bearing bank account, add the after-tax interest figures together and put the total in this box, but remember to omit interest received on tax-free accounts such as ISAs.

Boxes 1 and 2 highlighted on Main Return page for detailing 'Taxed UK interest' and 'Untaxed UK interest'.

Dividends

Dividends are entered after tax credits. You'll find this figure on your dividend vouchers. If you're the shareholder or director of a limited company and the books are kept in this account on FreeAgent, don't put in any dividends here from that company as FreeAgent will automatically include those in the computation.

Box 4 highlighted on Main Return page for detailing 'Dividends from UK companies'.

Pension contributions

If you've made any personal or stakeholder pension contributions, enter those in the 'Money paid into Pensions Schemes' section of the Main Return page. Make sure you enter the amount you actually paid, without adding back any tax relief. Please note that these boxes should be left blank if your pension was deducted directly from your salary.

'Money paid into Pension Schemes' area of Main Return page.

Employment income

If you have employment income from outside your business, you can enter that in the Employment page. Please note that if you're a director or other employee of a limited company whose books are kept in this account on FreeAgent, don't enter your salary in here as FreeAgent will automatically include that in the computation. 

'Employment' tab highlighted as second of six tabs.

Enter the employer name and select 'Add Employment'.

'Add an additional employment' box highlighted on Employment page.

This will produce boxes for you to complete for that employer. If you had more than one employment during this tax year, make sure to add one for each employer.

Boxes 1 and 2 highlighted on 'Employment' page for detailing 'Pay from example employer' and 'Tax taken off pay from example employer'.

Self employment losses brought forward 

If you are self-employed and your business made a loss in the previous year, but you need to change the figure that FreeAgent has carried forward, you can change the amount by selecting the Self-Employment tab.

Self-Employment tab highlighted as third of six tabs.

Scroll to box 28 and override the amount. Only change this figure if you want to override FreeAgent's calculation, otherwise leave it as it is.

Box 28 highlighted on Self-Employment page for detailing 'Net business profit for tax purposes' and 'Full loss brought forward from earlier years'.

UK property income

If you have income from a UK property, you can enter this in the UK Property tab. Please note that you cannot enter income for:

  • a landlord that is not resident in the UK
  • a property outside the UK (unless it is a Furnished Holiday Letting (FHL) in the European Economic Area (EEA)

Filing your Self Assessment tax return

Unique Tax Reference (UTR)

In order to be able to file your Self Assessment tax return to HMRC using FreeAgent, you will need to enter your 10-digit unique tax reference number in your user profile. You'll find this on most letters and Self Assessment tax forms you receive from HMRC.

'Unique Tax Reference' box highlighted on 'User Details' page.

Once you've completed all the necessary pages, select 'Prepare to file online' to file the return to HMRC.

'Prepare to file online' button highlighted at the top of the return.

Once you've filed your Self Assessment return and paid your tax bill to HMRC, find out how to explain a Self Assessment payment to HMRC.

Exporting your Self Assessment tax return

To export the Self Assessment tax return, select ‘Export’ and then choose either ‘Self Assessment return’ or 'Tax Calculation (SA302)’ from the drop-down menu.

Options to export 'Self Assessment Return' and 'Tax Calculation (SA302)' from drop-drown menu highlighted.

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