A guide to software applications for tax self-assessment.

Let's be honest: tax return software isn't the type of application most us of dream of when we invest in a personal computer. But then paying the income tax bill is right up there with trips to the dentist and getting the car MOT'd on most people's list of least favourite tasks. The Inland Revenue is determined to move us all to self-assessment, and with the September deadline fast approaching you're going to need to start getting that paperwork in hand. This could be surprisingly good news for home PC users.

PCs are exceptionally adept at the dull number-crunching involved in putting together a tax return, and there are now a number of applications that help you do it yourself cheaply. They will almost certainly make fewer mistakes than the Inland Revenue's own staff, and will save you money and even get you a discount into the bargain. The Revenue fined 600,000 people £100 each for getting tax returns in late last year. This year, they will knock £10 off your tax bill if you file your return over the Internet--and all these packages will allow you to do just that.

Until very recently TaxCalc, from the Consumer's Association, had the playing field all to itself. TaxCalc 2001 is the 19th version of the tried and tested package and, while the Inland Revenue's forms get tougher each year (running to a monster 29 pages in the most recent tax form), TaxCalc has stayed admirably simple.

When you create a new return in TaxCalc, you get an exact replica of the conventional paper return--on screen. The advantage over using paper is that it's pretty tough to get it wrong. As soon as you miss out details of loans, pensions and the like, the program pumps you for information. When everything's complete and checked, you get the option of filing electronically or printing out a copy to send to the Revenue.

Of course, the key to a painless tax return is to get organised on a daily and weekly basis. If you use a personal finance package to log your financial incomings and outgoings, you'll find that importing the data into your tax return is that much easier. Quicken 2001 Deluxe (also available in Standard edition) has long been one of the most popular packages in the UK, and it now includes the QuickTax package free of charge. QuickTax was an excellent piece of software when you had to pay for it. As a perfectly integrated element of a package like Quicken, it's a steal.

The other heavy hitter in the personal finance market is Microsoft's Money 2002 Personal and Business. Like Quicken, it allows you to itemise your income, loans, interest payments and (hopefully tax-deductible) expenses, all ready to flow into the tax return. Money 2002 is also available in standard and financial suite versions.

Small businesses in need of a complete financial control package should consider QuickBooks Pro 9. With facilities for customer invoicing, sales tracking, payroll and year end preparation, it is ideally set up to keep the Revenue happy.

John Rennie is a freelance journalist living in London. He writes on personal finance, education, sport and the Internet, and contributes to publications including Computeractive, What PC? and the Daily Mirror.

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