Tax Returns - I feel faint thinking about them.

We have finally finished the British Tax Return for 2010/2011 and submitted it online. Joy o joy! A job put off, and now well done. A feeling of success and relief overwhelms both of us. And we are still talking to each other too.

It took an enormous amount of mental and written mathematical agility, two telephone calls to the taxation department, arguments about how spreadsheets should be organised and who should be checking the bank statements. And there was the constant double checking and rechecking of figures.

The task was made difficult as Australia has a different taxation year to the UK, and of course all the dollars had to be converted to English pounds. And accuracy was paramount! Who wants to give the tax department more money than necessary. But we did not want to underpay tax either!

But it is finished now. And we have a new resolution! No leaving everything until the next tax return. We are going to have weekly finance meetings from now on. I wonder how long we last, probably until the memories of the last return fade.