HMRC's new rules are really stressing freelancers out

Want to strike fear and panic into the heart of any freelancer? Just whisper the words "self assessment tax return" and then watch their fight or flight mode activate in real time.

- Katie Rosseinsky, The Independent

Even if you have been happilyself-employed for decades, the chances are pretty high that whenever tax return season rolls around each year, you'll start to seriously question your life choices. Sure, you don't have a boss and the office politics are nonexistent, but wouldn't you take a bit of inter-colleague passive aggression if it meant you never had to deal with HMRC's online webchat again? And which cruel soul decided that the deadline had to fall in January, when you're already feeling skint and sorry for yourself?