> The U.S is unique in forcing its citizens to waste countless hours
It may be unusual, but it's certainly not unique; I have to fill in a tax-return every year, because I receive rental income. Anyone in the UK that receives income that isn't taxed at source by their employer has to complete one.
The last one I completed was 21 pages long, with notes for each page; a lot of the time I spent was scrabbling through my filing cabinet searching for my evidence.
That rental income plus my state pension and bank interest are the only taxable income I receive.
At one time I was a company director, and had to fill in personal tax returns. I folded the company, and returned to salaried employment, taxed at source; it took me a decade to get the tax authorities to stop sending me tax return forms that I was required by law to complete.
The various allowances are certainly helpful but £1,000 doesn’t really factor in when you’re dealing with rental income. Almost every landlord will cross that threshold and should expect to fill a return in.
Hearing about how taxes work in other countries makes me grateful for the system we have here.
Most people never have to file a return. The people that do have a more complicated arrangement and probably need to summarise expenses, etc.
It may be unusual, but it's certainly not unique; I have to fill in a tax-return every year, because I receive rental income. Anyone in the UK that receives income that isn't taxed at source by their employer has to complete one.
The last one I completed was 21 pages long, with notes for each page; a lot of the time I spent was scrabbling through my filing cabinet searching for my evidence.
That rental income plus my state pension and bank interest are the only taxable income I receive.
At one time I was a company director, and had to fill in personal tax returns. I folded the company, and returned to salaried employment, taxed at source; it took me a decade to get the tax authorities to stop sending me tax return forms that I was required by law to complete.