company wants tax returns

klunk

Hi,

I have been working for myself for the last 3 years, but as things been very quiet i have got a part time job one day a week can be more if they need me in,

I have been working for them for a couple months they had refs, passport driving license etc,

I had a letter last week from their screening company they want my tax returns for the last 3 years i rang them up to ask why and they said it was to show how i had been supporting myself ( which i dont see what has to do with them)

Woman on phone i spoke to wasnt that helpful just said they wanted my tax returns

Problem is im not best on paper work i did have first 2 years worked out but on the pc at the time i did my returns, but i lost them with a hd crash the thought of going through all paper work etc is bit off putting,

Has anyone had to do this and what exactly did you list just income and expenses or go into details and will they be able to check it with the tax office,

I was wondering if i could get a copy off the tax office of my tax returns and send them to them

Any help apprecated

getmore4less

I would say none of their business.

Is there something about the job that might need extra checks?

Is the job PAYE or self employed?

wontfallforit

klunk wrote: »

Hi,

I have been working for myself for the last 3 years, but as things been very quiet i have got a part time job one day a week can be more if they need me in,

I have been working for them for a couple months they had refs, passport driving license etc,

I had a letter last week from their screening company they want my tax returns for the last 3 years i rang them up to ask why and they said it was to show how i had been supporting myself ( which i dont see what has to do with them)

Woman on phone i spoke to wasnt that helpful just said they wanted my tax returns

Problem is im not best on paper work i did have first 2 years worked out but on the pc at the time i did my returns, but i lost them with a hd crash the thought of going through all paper work etc is bit off putting,

Has anyone had to do this and what exactly did you list just income and expenses or go into details and will they be able to check it with the tax office,

I was wondering if i could get a copy off the tax office of my tax returns and send them to them

Any help apprecated

Did you use an accountant whilst you were working for yourself? Not sure how helpful it'd be, but it might be worth putting the screening company in touch with your accountant.

klunk

Hi,

No i did my own tax returns,

And the company installs alarms but my job is maintenance on the offices nothing to do with installing alarms etc and the job is paye but like i say its usually 1 day a week

fengirl_2

I wonder if they are asking you to prove your work history which as an employee it would be easy to do?
If you dont have copies of your SA's, you could ask HMRC for copies.

klunk

yes i was wondering if they would give me copies or not be easiest way

Savvy_Sue

I think it would be worth asking, in writing, WHY they need your tax returns. And point out that if it is to establish that you have the right to work in the UK, your passport should be adequate proof of that. And that you are happy to provide other evidence of this - a letter from a government agency with your NINo on, for example - if required.

Have you not got copies of anything from the tax office? Have they sent you a notice of tax coding at any time? Did you fill in a P46 when you started?

If they are checking that you're not some con artist who's going to run off with what's in the safe, I think your tax returns are unlikely to help. Personally.

I know someone who hasn't worked or claimed benefits for years. I know he has inherited wealth and is living on his investments, but if he went and got a part-time job it would be nobody's business but his own what he's lived off in the past.

robredz

It's most likely the proof of continuing right to work in the UKunder the Immigration and Asylum Act imho,

PasturesNew

I am self-employed and fill in my annual tax return and send it in with a cheque. When I was screened for a temping job they kept repeating their standard question about wanting tax returns, and I said "I fill in a self-employed sheet from the Tax Office" because they obviously wanted some audited accounts or something a bit higher up the food-chain than I was producing.

I just kept repeating that I do an annual tax return and they could have my tax reference number, but any previous years' tax records weren't a matter for public viewing, nor relevant. They accepted it in the end. Tick box checkers! How annoying.

They never saw anything from me in the end as I had nothing to give them that matched the wording on their daft list. They ended up happy enough though and I was cleared through OK and got the job.

Also - re passport - they took a copy of it, then tried coming back and saying "it's out of date", I replied matter-of-factly "I know". Tough titty. Buy me a new one and you can have an up to date one.

PasturesNew

wontfallforit wrote: »

Did you use an accountant whilst you were working for yourself? Not sure how helpful it'd be, but it might be worth putting the screening company in touch with your accountant.

If the OP had, then this is what they'd have done. These type of forms are looking for that type of formal accountancy returns done by an accountant, but there are thousands of us self-employed types doing a bit here and a bit there and simply filling in a self-employed sheet for the tax office each year. This is where the problem is, they're after something that doesn't exist and are confused by people being self-employed and not having an accountant.

Emmzi

because its an office with access to info about people with or withpout alarms it may be as simple as wanting to prove you haven't been in the nick for the last few years without the expensse of a CRB check.

I'd just ask why they want it, but for some jobs I need to be able to prove continuity of employment with no suspicious gaps for months at a time.