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The Tax Bite
 Today is the deadline for reporting and paying *"Self Assessment"* tax here in the UK. As a self employed person, and a die-hard procrastinator, I will be doing both today haha. I always leave things to the very last minute. For the past 5 years, I've reported and paid on the very last day. During Covid, when we were granted a couple of months' extension, I reported on the final day of the extension 😂 Tax is a necessary *evil*. It's as old as record-keeping. In fact some of the earliest records ever found were of taxes. Some have even speculated that the record-keeping, which eventually led to script, was kicked off to ensure people paid the correct tax: as far back as Ancient Egypt and Sumer. As a self-employed person I'm very aware and in touch of how much of my income goes to the government. I see the income, it looks great, and then I remember "ah, only a portion of it is mine" haha. I will be paying more tax this tax year because the government reduced to the threshold (allowance) by quite a lot! The specific numbers can be found on the HMRC website but it means I'm having to pay more tax. I always imagine my capital gains, the realised ones that is, as an apple or bagel, or any piece of food for that matter, with a large bite taken out of it. That bite, the missing piece, is the tax. This year the bite is a little bigger than before and I fear it will increase going forward. Mind you, the actual apple/bagel itself has also shrunk in size so the overall amount of food intake is dramatically reduced. 😅 Thankfully the tax year in question hasn't produced too much capital gains I have to worry about. In fact I probably made a loss, which I also have to report. I also need to get better at documenting expenses, which I hardly ever claim. Most self-employed folks don't claim all their expenses and, by definition, pay too much tax. I have devised a better record keeping system, quite a primitive one actually involving paper, pen and envelope, haha, that will help me reduce next year's tax by claiming expenses and accurately as possible. Lets see what happens. Peace & Love, *Adé*
 Today is the deadline for reporting and paying *"Self Assessment"* tax here in the UK. As a self employed person, and a die-hard procrastinator, I will be doing both today haha. I always leave things to the very last minute. For the past 5 years, I've reported and paid on the very last day. During Covid, when we were granted a couple of months' extension, I reported on the final day of the extension 😂 Tax is a necessary *evil*. It's as old as record-keeping. In fact some of the earliest records ever found were of taxes. Some have even speculated that the record-keeping, which eventually led to script, was kicked off to ensure people paid the correct tax: as far back as Ancient Egypt and Sumer. As a self-employed person I'm very aware and in touch of how much of my income goes to the government. I see the income, it looks great, and then I remember "ah, only a portion of it is mine" haha. I will be paying more tax this tax year because the government reduced to the threshold (allowance) by quite a lot! The specific numbers can be found on the HMRC website but it means I'm having to pay more tax. I always imagine my capital gains, the realised ones that is, as an apple or bagel, or any piece of food for that matter, with a large bite taken out of it. That bite, the missing piece, is the tax. This year the bite is a little bigger than before and I fear it will increase going forward. Mind you, the actual apple/bagel itself has also shrunk in size so the overall amount of food intake is dramatically reduced. 😅 Thankfully the tax year in question hasn't produced too much capital gains I have to worry about. In fact I probably made a loss, which I also have to report. I also need to get better at documenting expenses, which I hardly ever claim. Most self-employed folks don't claim all their expenses and, by definition, pay too much tax. I have devised a better record keeping system, quite a primitive one actually involving paper, pen and envelope, haha, that will help me reduce next year's tax by claiming expenses and accurately as possible. Lets see what happens. Peace & Love, *Adé*