Income Tax Self-assessment

3. The Return

3.1 Tax returns vary in length as they are tailored to each individual's circumstances.

HM Revenue & Customs will only send you the forms it thinks you need.

• 90 per cent of tax returns will be 12 pages or fewer.
• You must request any additional pages you require which are missing (see 3.3).

3.2 Everyone must fill in the main eight-page tax return.

This covers:

• Income from savings and investments.
• Pensions.
• Tax allowances and tax reliefs.
• State benefits.
• Maintenance payments.

3.3 You must also fill in supplementary pages covering any other types of income and gains which apply to you.

You will need to complete:

• Employment (two pages), if you were an employee.You will need a separate form for each job held during the tax year.
• Share options (two pages), if you were granted or exercised share options.You do not usually have to complete this form for SAYE (Save As You Earn) and other approved schemes.
• Self-employment (four pages), if you were a sole trader (not in partnership), or earned any freelance or consultancy earnings in addition to your main job.
• Partnerships (two or three pages), if you had partnership income.The shorter form is for partnership income from a business. The longer form covers other partnership income (from savings, investments or rents, or from overseas).
• Land and property (two pages), if you received rental income.
• Foreign (five pages), if you had income from overseas investments, pensions, benefits and rents.You do not need to complete this form for overseas employment, unless you have been taxed both overseas and in the UK and want to reclaim tax.
• Trusts (one page), if you received income from a trust fund or have set one up.
• Capital gains (eight pages), if you sold assets and the total sales proceeds were over £17,000 or the gains were over £9,200 (the 2007/08 capital gains tax threshold).You do not need to complete this form for private possessions, such as your main home or private cars, unless they were used for business.
• Non-residence (two pages), if you lived or worked abroad during the tax year.