Product Reviews

Tax might not be taxing for that bloke on the telly, but if you've ever had to fill in an SA100 Self-Assessment Tax Return, you'll know what a cold sweat feels like. Make a mistake and you could end up paying too much tax - or even face a penalty charge. Fortunately, Intuit's TaxCalc program can help you fill in your tax form correctly, without any errors.

TaxCalc is well presented and easy to use. It takes the form of an interview, asking you questions in plain English and using your answers to fill in the SA100 in the way that will get you the best deal possible.

Most of the time, TaxCalc keeps questions to a minimum by asking only those that are relevant to you. For example, the questions about income from a company appear only if you say you have earned money through self-employment. It asks for a breakdown of self-employed income only if that income is over the Inland Revenue limit of £15,000. Similarly, it asks whether your business is a closed company only if you say you're a Director, and so on. Throughout the process, TaxCalc offers assistance, providing prompts and definitions to reduce the chances of you not understanding a question and answering incorrectly. TaxCalc's wizard routines can even calculate such things as mileage allowances - normally a frustrating and horribly complicated job. It does the same for company car allowances.

Intuit is so confident in its TaxCalc software that it

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offers its users two guarantees. For starters, Intuit guarantees you'll do your Tax Return in 30 minutes, or it'll give you your money back. It also guarantees that your return will be accurate, or it'll pay your penalties. It's important to remember, though, that while TaxCalc can get you through your tax return in 30 minutes (or less, in our experience), this doesn't include the time it takes to gather all the information and documents you need. The entire process won't be over in 30 minutes, even with TaxCalc - but it will take a lot less time than it would without it.

There are a few areas in which TaxCalc could be a bit clearer, though. If you've been self-employed in the past but have not created a company and are paying yourself through dividends, TaxCalc doesn't make it immediately obvious how much income you should enter. Thousands of people do this, so it's a shame that it's not better catered for. The occasional irrelevant tip slipped through as well: even though we'd entered a date of birth in 1964, TaxCalc insisted on telling us about age-related allowances that apply to people born before 1939.

Finally, when it has calculated your tax liability TaxCalc should tell you to check any self-assessment statements the Inland Revenue has sent for tax you've paid in advance. It's easy to forget this, but it makes a massive difference to your liability.

These slight glitches aside, TaxCalc does its job well. If you've used TaxCalc before, the 2004 version will even import your basic details from previous tax returns. If you're still doing the same job, completing your return is simply a matter of changing a few numbers.

If you have an older version of TaxCalc, you will have to upgrade if you want help with this year's tax returns, as new tax rules have made previous version obsolete. Fortunately, TaxCalc 2004 is better than its predecessor, so you needn't begrudge shelling out for the new version too much. TaxCalc 2004 makes Self Assessment as easy as it's ever likely to be.