1.4m people would rather jump out of a plane than file their tax returns

A survey from accounting software provider Intuit QuickBooks asked 1,010 self-employed people across the UK what they would rather do instead of file their tax return. Of the 11.6m people who have to complete the self-assessment tax return:

• 1 in 5 people (2.4m) said they would rather give a speech to 100 strangers
• 1 in 5 people (2.3m) would rather spend a night in a haunted house
• 1 in 5 people (2.2m) said they’d rather hold a tarantula for a minute
• 1 in 7 people (1.7m) would rather get trapped in a lift
• 1 in 8 people (1.4m) said they would rather jump out of a plane

Other findings from the research include:

• 1 in 2 people (5.3m) worry they haven’t filled in their tax return correctly
• 2 in 5 people (4.5m) feel stressed about doing their tax return
• 1 in 4 people (2.6m) will complete their tax return in the final two weeks

• Women take twice as long as men (12.3 hrs vs. 6.7 hrs) to complete their tax return

It doesn’t have to be that scary. With QuickBooks Self-Employed, it’s possible to take pictures of receipts in the app. The software will then auto-categorise your expenses, and when it comes to January, allow you to prepare your self-assessment without the fuss.

Other innovative features in the QuickBooks Self-Employed software include automatic mileage tracking within the app, and the ability to integrate with your bank account to automatically keep track of invoices and scheduled payments from clients and customers.

QuickBooks Self-Employed also includes QB Assistant, a conversational chatbot that combines data-driven insights and natural language processing to unearth valuable insights for people who work for themselves.

Shaun Shirazian, head of product Europe at QuickBooks said, “The self-employed have more than enough to worry about between keeping on top of their cash flow, drumming up new customers and balancing their work and private lives.

“Self-assessment shouldn’t be another stress to add to the list. Using software like QuickBooks Self-Employed, all your financial information is at your fingertips, ready to easily submit to HMRC.”

The research, conducted by Opinium from 5-15 January 2019, also revealed young people were twice as likely as older people to submit their returns at the last minute (6% of 18 to 34-year-olds submit in the final 48 hours vs. 3% of those aged 55+). One in 100 people (110,000) were already planning to file their return after the 31 January deadline.

Survey running from 5 to 15 January, 2019 commissioned by Intuit, from a sample of 1,010 UK adults who complete self-assessment taxes