articulate and intelligent discussion of personal finances

[devi]

GAH TAX RETURN GAH GAAAAH. Ugh.

On the upside, in the process of hunting for a Revenue letter with important information in it I have recycled a ton of old and useless paper and thus will have less stuff to move. And found my master copy of Wasted Epiphanies 1. On the downside, no letter. Humph.

(Edit: Tonight also brought the weird realisation that I've made more from artwork this last year than I've made from writing ever. This has uncomfortable implications but is also kind of cool.)

Comments

[hatter.livejournal.com]

Recycling is good, but is missing letter one whose info can't be dug out from someone/where else ? Some paper can only be issued once, but HMRC may never actually need to see it. Found my last piece of necessary paper a couple of days back, but wish I had any idea what to do with those particular numbers, now I have them. Congrats on being I think the first person on my list to get to the 'argh' stage though, this means you're upto 5 days ahead of several other people.


the hatter

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

is missing letter one whose info can't be dug out from someone/where else ?

Well, I hope it can - I'm going to ring them tomorrow morning. I was just hoping I could make more progress tonight. And other bits have proved easier than I feared they'd be - including getting information from a workplace who have sucked spectacularly in every other way this year. I was expecting weeks of chasing them and in fact that bit took about 20 minutes in total. So it's not all bad.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I did all my Arghing in the summer. And paid the bill last week (well, narenek did, I paid him back yesterday).

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

You've made money from artistic things??? Cripes! Well done!

I am going to have to take my tax return to my dad tomorrow, which is galling because I thought I'd finally figured out the maths after last year's lecture, and I'm going to have to tell him how little I've earned yet again...

Hello! I'm making a new comic too! You may have kicked me into doing something again...

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Well, in fairness the total amount I've made from writing EVER is very small. Especially considering I've been doing it since I was 8.

I don't think you ought to be ashamed of not understanding the maths. I'm still at the stage of goggling at the forms and going I don't think much of this applies to me but I can't be sure because I DON'T KNOW WHAT ANY OF THESE WORDS MEAN, YIKES.

And hurrah for new comic! Sign me up!

[juliet]

dogrando has had to do tax returns in the past & may be able to help?

This is for the 2006/7 tax year, right?

[worries slightly]

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Have you tried doing it online, it seems (to me) clearer there than on the paper form?

(I did mine last week, which is an earliness record for me I think.)

Yay for art money -- good to have a new string to your bow, as Mrs Bagthorpe would say.

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had to do one a few years back and it was much easier doing it online.

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask you if you were around this weekend, but possibly the first line of th above edit answers that question...

Good luck - I know a bit about personal tax returns (I did a whole stack of them in Jan 05, but none since)...

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I'm around on Sunday morning/early afternoon, potentially, but you meet me at your own risk, as I may ask you accounting-related questions. Thanks for the good luck wishes.

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

OK - I shall see. I want to get to the Magic Cafe to catch your exhibition before it folds its tents into the night, but have arsed up my planning more than somewhat.

If I'm around on Sunday, I'll let you know. Hope you have a good weekend, as far as possible...

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Oh arse - I seem incapable of remembering that the MC is closed on Sundays... and Saturday is now stuffed to the gills with Stuff I Must Do. One of those things to do does involve showing the exhibition to a bunch of people over lunch in the cafe, which you're welcome to come to, but I can only stay till 3 at the latest. Which isn't a great ratio of journey time to hanging out.

(I seem to be thinking in ratios constantly today.)

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... a sufficiency, if not to say an excess, of neeps, tatties and haggis has made getting up for an early train tomorrow seem like a silly idea.

I shall see how things go, and drop you a text if I will be in town.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

a sufficiency, if not to say an excess, of neeps, tatties and haggis has made getting up for an early train tomorrow seem like a silly idea

[insert obvious comments about best laid plans, &c]

No worries - see you soon hopefully!

[rgl.livejournal.com]

I think the implications are that the market for art is healthier than the market for writing.

I've got to do my tax return too (for my record label), which is particularly confusing this time because most of my income for 2006-07 is in dollars. :/

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Good luck. How is it in dollars, though? Surely it must arrive in a UK bank account at some stage?

[rgl.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, but it sits in an account in dollars until I specifically request for it to be paid to me via PayPal (which I haven't yet, and I'm not going to until the dollar picks up a bit). So when I'm telling HMRC how much I've earned (in pounds), what exchange rate do I use? This is the point at which it's useful to have a girlfriend who's an accountant...

[libellum.livejournal.com]

Was that to try and find your UTR number? Because if so OH GOD I SYMPATHISE.

Also I was having a similar thought re art and writing recently - art is more lucrative, who'd have thought it? I figured out that writing is actually what I do for fun these days. Which is weird, because after I realised firstly that I was never going to be a novelist, and secondly that I was never going to be an academic writer, I sort of assumed that I'd given up writing. Which is blatantly untrue because I spend all my time blogging in various personal and professional contexts. It just ... doesn't earn much money.

I'm sure that's mostly to do with how seriously I take each of them, and how marketable my particular skills in each medium is. But your comparison resonated with me, anyway :)

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I am going through a very similar process to what you described recently, only two weeks later. And yes, I know it's ridiculous.

My reaction on learning of the existence of UTR numbers was "wait, you want my WHAT?"

I have thoughts on what you say about art and writing, but they should probably wait till after work...

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

The UTR is a perfectly pointless invention, as all registered taxpayers already have a unique NI number. UTR's keep Hector fat and happy though.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I know nothing of the dread Hector...

And yes, I did think that was the point of NI numbers. Still, expecting it all to make sense would probably lead to insanity.

Oh well, I have all the helpsheets in the world and a sheaf of photocopied receipts resembling the phone book of a medium-sized town, and it will get done.

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

The small guy on the right of this page is Hector. He's been retired, apparently- was in favour of those bloody ads featuring Pauline McLynn, initially.

It tells you a lot about accountants, or at least these accountants, that this is their "fun" page.

[mollydot.livejournal.com]

Tonight also brought the weird realisation that I've made more from artwork this last year than I've made from writing ever.

Well done!

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Though see below...

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Arting requires outlay for materials, whereas writing only requires a garret and a candle stuck in a bottle?

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

That's true. And if you factor in materials I've probably actually made a small loss - but that still makes it a hobby with one of the best cheapness/awesomeness ratios ever.

[bigcat23.livejournal.com]

you've reminded me that I'll need to get onto the tax people soon on Schedule D (is it still D or has that changed again?)before they take all the music money away in PAYE. There's no specific info on their website about what is tax deductible for musicicans or anything. Looking forward to seeing your exhibition tomorrow btw!

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

You're coming too? Ace!

Yeah, I noticed there was advice for authors and artists, but not musicians... odd.

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

The implications are that you should do a 300-odd piece artistic exhibit, each piece being a framed page of printed text with a theme strangely redolent of a "science-fiction" or "fantasy" "story", simultaneously questioning the very nature of artistic creation and making a statement on subjective context in the scope of 21st century market forces, or something.

After the initial pieces have been snapped up by millionaire collectors, an attractive softbound compilation of the work could be sold for about 5.99 by selected bookselling outlets.

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

more maps for you, if you're not sick of them by now... ;-)