This article provides a quick tour of the 'Self Assessment' screen in FreeAgent and how to enter data there.
Please note that FreeAgent's Self Assessment functionality won't be available if you have an unincorporated landlord account.
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 and on your salary and dividends if you're a director of a limited company.
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 the 'Self Assessment' area of 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.
Navigating to the Self Assessment screen
Navigate to the ‘Taxes’ tab at the top of your screen and select ‘Self Assessment’ from the drop-down menu.
Select which user's Self Assessment tax return you want to look at from the drop-down menu. FreeAgent calculates Self Assessment for all users except those allocated the role of 'Accountant'.
Then select which tax year you want to look at. The year in which your FreeAgent start date falls is the earliest tax year you'll see displayed here.
Alternatively, you can navigate to the tax year from the drop-down menu.
There are four tabs on the right-hand side of the screen for limited companies and five tabs for sole traders. The ‘Self Employment’ page will only be available in FreeAgent if you’re a sole trader.
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 in your tax return. For example, this what a self-employed individual would see on the 'Self-Employment' page if they're a sole trader.
The Tax Breakdown tab
The 'Your Tax Breakdown' tab is located at the bottom of the 'Your Tax Return' panel.
It gives you a detailed breakdown of how your income is added up and your tax worked out.
Completing the 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.
Bank interest
Located under 'UK interest and dividends' within 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.
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.
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.
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.
Enter the employer name and select 'Add Employment'.
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.
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 - perhaps because you used some of the losses to set against other income last year - you can change the amount by selecting the 'Self-Employment' tab. Please note that the ‘Self Employment’ page will only be available in FreeAgent if you’re a sole trader.
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.
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.
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.