Underpayment tax demands help

meoww999

Hi,
Can someone advise me on something please? Between about June 2001 and November 2004 i had to do self assessment tax returns for my job. My wage was approx £250 and £280 pw cash from till and that was it, no profits or sales etc. To be honest, i didn't really know how i was filling it in as most of the huge form didn't apply to me as it was a weird franchise style set up i was working in. I tried my best and paid what i thought for the first year. I then received a letter and said i'd overpaid and so wouldn't hardly pay anything the 2nd year. In the 3rd year, i again paid what i thought was correct. In Novemeber 2004, i left and went back to being a 'proper employee' where i didn't have to mess around with my own tax and thought that was all finished with. However, i had a large tax demand in about July 2005 that didn't know what was for but i went to Waterfront ay Merry Hill to talk to someone face to face and got them to give me a final figure of what i owed. This was a huge amount which i took out a loan to pay which i wasn't impressed with but i trusted this is what i owed and it would all be finished. In November 2005, i was taken ill with a serious life threatening heart condition which i still have and was on long term IB and the DWP had said they wouldn't review me medically until September 2010 but i choose now to work 30 hours in a sedentary job as i hated being on benefits even though i'm hardly any better off. I have now had 2 letters causing me great stress demanding in total over £1200 from 01/02 and 02/03. I've tried to phone them but they won't speak to me properley because i can't remember any of my log in dtails and have told me to write a letter. I have no idea what i need to put. In all, i think over the 3 years i paid around £6000 in tax and NI through self assessment which i think sounds a lot for what i was earning. I have a high mortgage, 2 kids and a partner who is ill with ME (which she gets no benefits for as it happens but that's another story) and really could do without this stress. Any advice?

System

Make an appointment asap with your local HMRC enquiry centre to see if they can find out whats going on.

You can find your local one here - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/enq/index.htm