You may ask why do you put yourself through this every year?

You know the deadline in advance, and you have a whole 10 months to get your income tax return done, so what is stopping you?

Public opinion has played a strong role in the Chancellor's statement today and perhaps his announcements made at the Commons film set today can be summarised into the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The Good - Property Owners, Savers

At last the stamp duty system has been modernised, so it doesn't distort the property market with a more logical % being charged in each band rather than on the whole property price.

1. Children (and adults) come to your door demanding treats.

OK, I agree that HMRC does the same for cash and more of it, but at least there there are some rules in place as to what they can take and when.

There's no limit to the number of sweets which have to be handed out, and only sweets or chocolate are the acceptable currency. Don't try fruit which I did one year.....it didn't end well.

Dear HMRC

Taxpayers have benefited from recent changes allowing cash accounting for sole traders and simplified company reporting. The press releases accompanying these changes talk  a lot about simplification, with the sub-text that enterprise Britain enables small businesses to deal easily direct with HMRC and companies house. There is no need to pay an accountant so say the politicians.

The reality for small business owners is very different.