Why do my Capital Allowances schedules not print... ?

The Tax Return programs use the asset description to determine whether to print the Capital Allowances schedules. Make sure you enter some text in at least one asset description box on the Capital Allowances notepad to ensure that the schedule will be printed.

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Why do my dates appear in the format mm/dd/yyyy ... ?

You must actively set the date format in Windows to dd/mm/yy or dd/mm/yyyy. Go into the Windows Control Panel and double-click on Regional Settings then select the Date tab.
If the Short Date Style is mm/dd/yy, change it to dd/mm/yy and click on OK.
If the the Short Date Style is dd/mm/yy, change it to mm/dd/yy, click on OK, then go back into the Regional Settings and change the Short Date Style back to dd/mm/yy (This seems pointless but it works! - ask Microsoft why). 

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Which Tax Assistant files should be backed up ... ?

Refer to our application note Backing up your Tax Assistant files

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How can I use the TaxBase Diary for 2008 and future years ... ?

The TaxBase Diary has the capacity for up to four years. These can be any years you choose. If you started using TaxBase several years ago you may have data in the Diary for the past four years. You can clear out the data for the earliest year and rename this page 2008-09 (or just 2008 if you wish). To do this, first make a backup of the client database file TBASE020.MDB in your TaxBase data folder (you may wish to recover the data you are about to delete at some future time). Select the Diary page you wish to clear; this will normally be the earliest year. Click on the 'Clear All' button; you will be given the option to abandon the clear operation or confirm it. When you confirm that you wish to clear this year's diary data, all dates and "client events" are cleared for the selected year for all clients in the database. The diary information for other years is preserved. You can now change the "Tax Year" text on this page to "2008-09". 

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How can I email Tax Returns to my clients ... ?

You can save the printouts of your Tax Return files in a standard format, enabling the files to be viewed and printed on any computer that can open these standard format files. Thus, a standard format file containing a client's Tax Return, supplements, schedules and tax calculation summary can be included as an attachment to an email message sent to the client.

The type of standard format file and the method of producing it depends on which Tax Assistant program you are using. The standard formats are Portable Document Format (PDF) and Microsoft Word (MS Word). To use the PDF and MS Word facilities you must have Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your system.

The Tax Return, Partnership Tax Return, Repayment Claim, Company Tax Return and P11D programs use a printing system, which enables the documents to be saved as PDF files. These files can be viewed and printed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. For example, in the 2007 Tax Return, you can produce the PDF file as follows:

Open a Tax Return file and click on the 'Print' button on the Toolbar to open the 'Tax Return Reports' dialogue box.
Select the items you want to print (i.e. Tax Return pages, Supplements, Schedules, etc.).
Click on the 'Save As...' button and save the file into a folder of your choice. A default file name is provided but you can change it if you wish.

There are other ways to produce a PDF file for a Tax Return. You can select 'Save As PDF File...' on the 'File' menu to save the whole return, including supplements, schedules and the tax calculation summary. You can change the Preview mode in the Report Settings dialogue to be "PDF File" instead of "Normal" in which case your selected report will be previewed as a PDF file when you click on the 'Preview' button in the 'Tax Return Reports' dialogue box and it can be copied to another file using the 'Save As...' or 'Save a Copy...' facility in Adobe Acrobat.

At present, the Trust Tax Return programs use an older printing system. You can produce a printout as a Microsoft Word document, which you can attach to an email message sent to your client. Proceed as follows:

Go into the Print Settings dialogue and set the Preview mode to "MSWord".
After selecting the items you want to print, click on the "Preview" button. A message is displayed to show you which Word file is used for your document.
Go into Microsoft Word, open the file "Return.doc" in the Tax Assistant "DOCS" folder, and press the F11 key to view the tax return. You can then use "Save As..." to save the file with a new file name and email this file to your client.

The above procedure uses a macro embedded within the file "Return.doc". The macro runs when you press the F11 key. To use this file in Microsoft Word you must enable macros (select Tools -> Macro -> Security and set the Security Level to Medium or Low). It is advisable only to enable macros in Word when necessary and disable them at other times. Macros can contain viruses, so you should disable them before opening any file from an unreliable source.

As an alternative to using the facilities available within Tax Assistant to save information in PDF files, consider purchasing PDF Print Driver software. This sends printed output to a PDF file instead of to a printer. PDF Print Driver software is available for as little as £10.

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How does the Tax Calculation take pension contributions into account ... ?

Pension contributions entered in box 14.1 on the 2007 Tax Return form is used at Stage 4 of the Tax Calculation (SA151C) to extend the normal basic rate tax band of £31,150 by the amount entered in these boxes, thus giving higher rate tax relief, where appropriate. The extended amount (box c4.7 on the SA151C) is shown on the tax calculation SA302 printout, and you will see that the amount of income charged at 22% can be greater than £31,150 when pension contributions have been made.

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How can I enter more than one page of Capital Gains disposals ... ?

The Capital Gains Supplement has capacity for up to 80 non-mixed use gains, 20 mixed use gains and 40 losses. At the bottom of each of pages 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the supplement you will see two buttons labeled Previous and Next, and a green box between them containing a number. Initially, this number is "0". You can enter up to 8 non-mixed use gains, 2 mixed use gains and 4 losses on this page. If you require more entries, click on the Next button to move to the next page. You will see the number in the green box has changed to "1" to indicate that you are on the first additional page. You can now enter additional gains and losses. Similarly, you can use the Next button to select up to 9 additional pages. Use the Previous button to go back to any previous page. When you move between pages 2 and 3, the currently selected page number is retained. On pages 5, 6 and 7 you can use the Next and Previous buttons to enter further information on up to 20 transactions in each of the categories Unquoted shares, Land and property disposals, and Other disposals.

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How can I include more than one Share Scheme in a Tax Return ... ?

When you create a new Tax Return you can use the 'New' button in the Supplement Manager to create a Share Schemes supplement. We call this the primary Share Schemes supplement, identified as (0) in the list of supplements. After creating the primary Share Schemes supplement you cannot use the 'New' button to create another Share Schemes supplement, but you can create an additional Share Schemes supplement by selecting the primary Share Schemes supplement on the list of supplements then clicking on the 'Copy' button. This creates a secondary Share Scheme supplement, identified as (1) in the list of supplements. Further secondary copies can be created in the same way and are identified as (2), (3), etc. in the list of supplements.
Each secondary Share Schemes supplement comprises only pages 2 and 3 of the SA102 form. Pages 2 and 3 of the primary supplement and each copy of the secondary supplements are used to return details of one share scheme event. Page 1 of the primary Share Schemes supplement is automatically updated with the aggregate amounts from all copies of pages 2 and 3. 

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How do I make sure a female taxpayer who is over 60 is automatically exempt from Class 4 NIC...?

In the Class 4 NIC section of the Self-employment and Partnership Supplements, a tick box is used to indicate exemption from Class 4 NIC. You can tick this box manually for any taxpayer, but if a taxpayer is over 65, as determined by the date of birth entered on the return, the exemption box is ticked automatically. However, if the taxpayer is female, the exemption box must be ticked if she is over 60. The Tax Return form does not include any box to indicate the sex of the taxpayer, so we have included auxiliary option buttons in the "personal details" section (Q22) of the main Tax Return form where you can indicate the taxpayer's sex. The default setting is "male". The appropriate option button will be selected when you import the client details from a TaxBase database, but you can also select the appropriate option manually.
To ensure that the Class 4 NIC exemption box is ticked automatically for a female taxpayer who is over 60, you must select "female" in the personal details section on the main Tax Return form. This setting will be carried from one year to the next when you use the Transfer function. 

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Why do my TaxBase Diary reports not show any events or dates...?

Before using Diary reports in TaxBase, you must identify up to 6 "Key Events" from your Standard Events list. The Key Events will appear on your Diary reports as column headers, and the dates associated with these events will appear in the report alongside each client's name.
To identify a Key Event you must insert an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the Standard Event name in the Diary. For example, if you have a Standard Event called:
                         Tax Return sent to HMRC
and you wish this to be one of the Key Events, change the name to:
                         *Tax Return sent to HMRC
This will ensure that this event appears on your Diary reports.

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Why does the tax calculation omit age-related MCA for a taxpayer born before 6 April 1935...?

From the 2000-01 tax year onwards, Married Couple's Allowance is only available when a married man or his wife were born before 6 April 1935. MCA comprises a minimum element (£2,350 for 2006-07) and an age-related element. The minimum element is always given. The maximum age-related amount depends on the age of the older spouse. For 2006-07, the maximum amount of the age-related element is £3,785 if the older spouse was over 75 during the tax year, and £3,715 if the older spouse was aged between 65 and 75 during the tax year. If the net taxable income was above a specified minimum limit (£20,100 for 2006-07) the amount of the age-related element of MCA is reduced in proportion to the difference between his taxable income and the minimum limit, and will be eliminated completely if the taxable income is sufficiently high.

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Why does the tax calculation still give some Married Couple's Allowance when I tick box 16.8...?

In the Q16 section of the 2007 Tax Return, box 16.8 is used to indicate that a married man and his wife have allocated all of the minimum amount of Married Couple's Allowance to the wife. Only the minimum amount of MCA (£2,350 for 2006-07) may be transferred from husband to wife. Any entitlement to the remaining age-related element of MCA continues to be available to the husband.

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Why is there a validation error when the amount in box 3.24 is less than £15,000...?

Boxes 3.24, 3.25 and 3.26 are used to report the turnover, expenses and profit/loss for a business which had an annual turnover of less than £15,000. If the accounting period is less than one full year, the turnover limit is reduced proportionally on a daily basis. For example, if the start of the accounting period (box 3.4) is 01/01/2006 and the end of the accounting period (box 3.5) is 31/07/2006, the accounting period is 212 days and the turnover limit is 212/365 x £15,000 = £8712.

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How can I change the agent details on Tax Returns without having to edit them on each Return...?

If your firm changes its name or address you will probably want to change the agent details that appear on future Tax Returns without changing the information on Tax Returns that have already been submitted. To do this, proceed as follows:
Open any Tax Return file on which you wish to change the agent details.
Enter the new agent details in boxes 22.2 and 22.3 on page 9 of the Tax Return form.
Click on the Copy button between boxes 22.2 and 22.3. This saves the new agent details "in the background".
The new agent details will automatically be inserted into any new Tax Returns.
To change the agent details on an existing Tax Return, open the file, go to page 9 and click on the Paste button between boxes 22.2 and 22.3.

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How do I produce an estimated tax calculation for the following tax year...?

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How do I produce the CT600 (Short) Version 2 form using the Company Tax Return...?

The Company Tax Return program always displays the full CT600 form on screen. When you print the return, the CT600 (Short) form will be printed if both the following apply:

1.	In the Print window, you have ticked the box labelled "Tick this box to print the Short Company Tax Return when appropriate".
2.	You have not entered any information in boxes that require the full CT600.