Amazon.co.uk Review
As if it weren't bad enough paying taxes, these days the Inland Revenue wants you to do the donkey work of calculating how much tax you owe. But rather than adding insult to injury, a slick piece of software like
Self Assessment 2000 can actually turn the situation to your advantage. The package claims that you can "self-assess with less stress", and this certainly beats ploughing through the 30-odd pages of the Tax Return form with ballpoint and furrowed brow.
The important thing with tax software is knowing that it's tried and tested and nothing is missing. This package is in its fifth year. As well as completing your return correctly, it aims to save you money, noting that an estimated 40 per cent of UK tax returns are actually completed inaccurately, and that most of us don't properly know our way around our personal allowances. An interview mode lets you get your data in quickly and accurately, and the program generates a print-off form you can post to the Revenue. With backup available online and refreshingly uncluttered visuals, even the least tax-literate of us shouldn't get lost. --John Rennie