URGENT retired over 20 years, suddenly receive tax demand
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mally7uk
Posts: 10 Forumite
If anyone can help this is rather urgent.
My father in law is 88 years old. He retired over 20 years ago.
He now has a small personal pension and state pension.
He just received a letter from HMRC out of the blue demanding he pay back nearly £200 of tax that they claim he owes from when he was in full time employment. This was over 20 years ago. They say he has to pay by the middle of October - so within the next 3 weeks!
He cannot afford this - he is a pensioner, living on his own with a very small income.
I am not even sure the tax office can demand this so many years later.
At his age this has come as a great shock and he is very confused. There is no way he can afford to pay - I don't personally think he should have to. As he retired over 20 years ago they should have sorted this out at the time not make unrealsitic demands on a man of his age.
Please can anyone help? Any ideas appreciated.
My father in law is 88 years old. He retired over 20 years ago.
He now has a small personal pension and state pension.
He just received a letter from HMRC out of the blue demanding he pay back nearly £200 of tax that they claim he owes from when he was in full time employment. This was over 20 years ago. They say he has to pay by the middle of October - so within the next 3 weeks!
He cannot afford this - he is a pensioner, living on his own with a very small income.
I am not even sure the tax office can demand this so many years later.
At his age this has come as a great shock and he is very confused. There is no way he can afford to pay - I don't personally think he should have to. As he retired over 20 years ago they should have sorted this out at the time not make unrealsitic demands on a man of his age.
Please can anyone help? Any ideas appreciated.
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Comments
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Has he asked where the £200 comes from? He also needs to see if he can set up a payment plan with them.Sealed pot challenge #232. Gold stars from Sue-UU - :staradmin :staradmin £75.29 banked
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Virtual sealed pot #178 £80.250 -
if he does owe the money and he can't afford to pay they will arrange to deduct it from his state pension,there are no statute of limitations on these debts but they can't AFAIK take him to court0
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Has he still got any records from those years? Can HMRC prove he underpaid tax by that amount?
It could well be a mistake: I am sure they would not go back that far unless they thought that huge amounts of tax were due.Who having known the diamond will concern himself with glass?
Rudyard Kipling0 -
He has phoned me about this just tonight, he says it refers to when he was working. At over 20 years ago he has no idea what it refers to as he was in the same job full time for over 30 years before retirement and all taxes were paid through their company via PAYE or whatever it its called.
TBH I think the tax office are being very rude - to all intents and purposes he is fortunate to still be with us as most people have passed away by this age. I don't think they should demanding money from a pensioner THIS LONG after he retired. I can't find anything online that helps with this situation.0 -
http://www.cheapaccounting.co.uk/blog/index.php/tag/hmrc-underpaid-tax-demand/
I thought that there was a time limit for such cases. I would try to get all the facts and figures first.Who having known the diamond will concern himself with glass?
Rudyard Kipling0 -
When I started drawing my pensions, my occupational pension provider failed to deduct tax (They claimed to have had no notification, even though I sent them details, not realising that HMRC would do this).
The amount was less than £10 over the threshold (say, £300) below which debts are cancelled, so I objected on two counts :
1) That the provider and HMRC should have communicated appropriately
2) That when starting my last (part time) job, I was taxed for the first month and never got a refund. (I applied and then forgot, as the amount was trivial) However, deducting this from the amount owed took me below £300 owed, so having nothing to pay.
The reply was that for 1, the provider insisted that they had no tax code sent, so HMRC had to believe them and for 2, they could not comment as records did not go that far back (about 5 years!)
It seems that records appear and disappear to suit.0 -
You could ask for this thread to be removed to the Cutting Tax board, where some of the ex HMRC and accountants will see it and give professional opinions.Who having known the diamond will concern himself with glass?
Rudyard Kipling0 -
There is a tax charity called 'Tax Help for Older People' who deal with these issues a lot.
http://www.taxvol.org.uk/
Give them a call and they will advise what you/your FIL can do.
IQ0 -
Thanks to all for support and advice... can't believe that anyone responded let alone so quickly. WOW!
I will be seeing FIL Tuesday (can't sort out anything sooner due to work) but will certainly be taking all advice and checking websites/links that people have suggested.
Again, many thanks, I will update with news asap.
mally0 -
Give HMRC a ring first thing, via a telephone number from the government website, not via any telephone number on the letter. Just to double check things ...
Someone I know recently got a "debt collection" letter for £200 for something owed from a long time ago, however when she googled the number on the letter, it had nothing to do with the relevant agency and in fact there appeared to be a suspicion the number would redirect to a high charging phone line, Don't want to give additional details here, as this is likely to turn into a legal matter now. But always best double check the legitimacy of any demand for money.0
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