Matthew Wildeman
Matthew Wildeman opened his first business, Big Matt's Menswear, with his business partner Nicky Baker a year ago. The shop is located in the town of Poole in Dorset and specialises in selling outsize men's clothing and shoes.
Prior to the new venture, Matt was a sailing instructor and he taught beginners as well as those wanting to take up sailing professionally. His partner Nicky was a trained nurse. Matt doesn't have the time to teach people how to sail yachts anymore but he is still certified as an RYA Cruising Instructor.
As Big Matt's Menswear was their first business, Matt and Nicky had quite a learning curve to overcome. Matt explains, "Opening a clothes shop was quite a departure from our old careers. At first it was a little bit daunting, particularly in terms of dealing with the HMRC. Nicky had no previous experience of filing a tax return and I had only done so in a personal capacity."
Although he was a relative layman when it came to taxes, Matt decided to take responsibility for the businesses finances and decided to do his taxes online on the HMRC's website. He thought that this would be the fastest and most direct way to complete his tax return; however, due to problems with the site, Matt had to complete his return by hand and then via post.
Matt Explains, "I was disappointed that couldn't file my tax directly online using the HMRC website so I decided to do a bit of digging and found TaxCalc, a leading tax returns software, which allows you to file the taxes for your business directly online with the HMRC so I went for it. It made the process as straightforward as possible and so I also used it to file two of my personal returns online."
When asked about the features of TaxCalc that he liked he replied, "Apart from the obvious fact that I can file my business return directly online, I really like that the software takes you through the process step by step. It also allows you to go back a step if you have made a mistake and crucially, it reminds you to save regularly. There is nothing worse than doing hours of taxes only to lose everything when the power goes out!"
Matt’s store has been open for more than a year and is doing well selling outsize men's clothing and shoes. Matt commented, "I am quite happy with the software as it simplifies the task for me and allows me to file my business and personal taxes directly online in one go. The product has paid for itself and I am certainly going to continue using it as long as the upgrade remains affordable, which seems likely, as the price hasn't changed since 2004."
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