How a song could help 800,000 affected by tax changes

We’ve all been there, haven’t we?

We’re living our lives, having a great time and then oops – the Self Assessment deadline creeps up, again.

There’s also some new changes on the horizon for those who do their own taxes.

From April 6, self-assessment tax returns won’t be made annually anymore. Instead, around 800,000 sole traders or self employed workers will need to fill them out quarterly instead.

In addition to that, there’s been a big move towards digital self-assessment too.

But to avoid having to read pages and pages of notes about it, a new song has been released to help people understand the changes better.

Four Times A Year, the 80s banger of a pop song explaining HMRC’s new rules, has been released.

It’s written by Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti, Cardiacs) for ANNA Money.

ANNA’s Head Of Brand Voice, Greg Stekelman, said: ‘We realised that lots of people still didn’t know about MTD, and that it feels confusing and impenetrable for many.

So why not bypass the boring thinkpieces and do a pop song that’ll actually be heard by the people affected by MTD – builders in white vans, online sellers glued to their phones, graphic designers in tiny beanies.

‘For too long songs have been written about love, heartbreak, and going out partying on a Saturday night. Not enough songs have been written about the challenges facing small business owners who now have to file their taxes quarterly. The British pop music establishment has let us all down.’

The song was written by Marsden, who has a history of producing songs with a unique perspective (he made a hit disco album about Brexit in 2019) and has played in bands including Scritti Politti and The Cardiacs.

It’s performed by West End star Olivia Saunders (who, until recently, was protraying Andy in The Devil Wears Prada musical).

The lyrics explain that the tax rules are changing with the introduction of making tax digital for income self assessment.

This means sole traders earning over £50,000 per annum will have to update HMRC four times a year, rather than filing the traditional annual tax return.

Four Times A Year has its own music video – an 8-bit homage – which can be found on YouTube and TikTok. ANNA’s tax tune is available to stream now on Spotify and Apple Music.

‘Every year there’s heated debate about what’s going to be the Christmas number one, but there’s very little talk about what’s going to be number one for the new tax year on 6th April,’ says Stekelman. ‘We want to change that. Let’s get Four Times a Year to number one for the new tax year.’

ANNA Money co-founder and co-CEO Boris Diakonov added: ‘The pop song is fun, but there’s a serious message behind it. Making Tax Digital awareness isn’t as high as it could be, and we want to get to the ears of the business owners who might not be reached by traditional means.’

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