Taxing times loom for the self-employed

Next Thursday is a key deadline in the tax calendar, the day the self-employed have to pay their tax for 2015.

While employees pay their tax on the drip, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly as they get paid, the self-employed pay it in a lump sum. For many of them, next Thursday is the day.

Self-employment is a fairly straightforward idea. The tax system has a knack of contaminating straightforward ideas, though.