h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

SA105 needs filling in. SA100 needs filling in (I think) though just to tick one box in all 6 pages of it. The Capital allowances one doesn't need completing (I think). The HMRC website is back to front from this side of the screen. You find out some info, think you've sorted it out but then come across something else while reading up something else again. All the help, all the advice notes are sorted by tax or tax allowance type. Not by income type. For the ordinary bod from the street it should be possible to look up info on the type of income you think you should be paying tax on and follow the options under that heading. Simples! Isn't it?

All I want to do is declare the income from renting my old house and pay the tax on it, it should be possible without paying for the expense of a tax accountant. Shouldn't it?

Apart form the density of HMRC's website advice on income from property, renting the house has gone well. Renting was much easier to handle than selling.Ostensibly the reason was because it was only five minutes from my parents and we might need somewhere close sometime. It wasn't that. The probability of a tenancy ending at the right time is remote. It was partly keeping a tangible presence close to my mother, moving further away affected her though she never said. But it was more than that. Accountancy has no direct tangible product. In fact you might measure a (non-tax) accountant's performance by problems avoided rather than any positive gain. The house was the substitute indirect tangible product. Bought from earnings, internally and personally it was a measure of achievement, part of the structure of self esteem.

It's not anymore The question is what has replaced it? I've had a number of work colleagues whose identity was tied up so closely with their job title that when that ended, so did they. Recognising what self-worth is built on is important I think. Is it built round strong internal suppports or leaning on external scaffolding? I'm not sure personally - something to think about while hoovering with Henry next Wednesday week maybe.

That's a good point Waz. Work is important to how I perceive myself as well - one of the good points of hootoo is that it has helped me develop other strings to my bow...

sprout

I've learned from h2g2, but I'm not sure its added any strings to bows. Being better at writing than before is certainly empowering though.

As to steel frames or buttresses, leaning on an OH too much has been on my mind. It's a glorious luxury, but you can't support what you're always leaning on. A measure of independent thinking and capability needs to be retained. Simple things, like remembering to put petrol in the car... not that it's actually run out. Yet. Sharing the job of keeping a supply of milk in the fridge, bread in the bread tin and marmite on the shelf. Essentials like that.



It must be time to start filling in tax returns again.

Not a good thing to define yourself by your occupation, especially now when there are no jobs for life. I think it is probably more of a male problem than female, but with women increasingly putting a career first it is becoming more of a problem for them too.

Work Life balance is a devil to figure out with companies believing they 'own' their employees both inside and outside work hours.

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