I became self-employed last year and am getting ahead on my 2025/26 tax return - the first one I have filed.
I'm being asked to pay tax for next year 'on account'. What does this mean and what if my earnings are going to be lower than last year's - do I just have to overpay?
People on salaries don't have to pay half their tax in advance, so how is this fair?
Heather Rogers replies: Payments on account were introduced when self-assessment was brought in to streamline the tax affairs of self-employed people in 1996.
'Why do I have to pay in advance?' most of my clients asked. Thirty years on, many people still ask me the same question.
