IT contractors may want to explore umbrella companies rather than attempting to complete self-assessment tax returns over the internet, a barrister has suggested.

Richard Colbey, writing for the Guardian, has highlighted a number of difficulties that he experienced while performing this task.

He suggested that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can take up to seven days to register users who want to access the site, which could impact on those who leave the process close to the January 31st deadline.

Problems with pages timing-out before they have been completed and losing information that had not been saved, were issues he also raised.

Mr Colbey stated: "If you receive income from trusts, you can forget about using the site at all. Assessing this is seemingly so difficult that HMRC gave up altogether on incorporating it."

Earlier this week, HMRC reminded IT contractors to remember to submit their online self-assessment tax returns by the end of the month or face receiving a £100 fine.