Feeling in masochistic mood, I filed my tax return on a recent Sunday morning and applied online for the new SRA practising certificate in the afternoon.

Despite its shaky start, the online registration was fairly smooth. There were difficulties on the fee-earner page, which a number of people have encountered, as it did not clearly say to search for the name and then on the right click on that fee-earner to confirm their details. The system also wanted me to state when I ceased to hold client money, but I have never held it, so in order to progress I had to say I stopped holding it the day I started my practice. It took me over an hour to complete the form, which is longer than usual with the paper version. I am the only person in my firm.

The fee was less than last year. Let us hope reductions continue and cuts are made. I was disappointed that, at the end, the system would not let me pay by debit or credit card, although supposedly that is an option. I tried many times, but only a blank page which should have been WorldPay came up. So, unlike the paper system, I will have to return to the issue to pay an invoice shortly when one is available. One advantage of recent problems is that instead of paying in October, we have had a three-month delay in having to pay!

Page one had a disheartening ‘it's’ for ‘its’ and a page near the end contained a sentence which would not have been out of place in a list of examples of the worst use of prepositions; but overall it is not too bad.

Susan Singleton,Singletons, Pinner