We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide

Question Of The Week: Tax Payments

Q. If a person is unemployed do we need to pay tax on our savings accounts? Wendy

A: No matter whether you're a man, woman, child, employed or unemployed you do pay tax on your income.... once you've earned over the personal allowance (£6,475/year for under 65s in the 2009/10 tax year).

So if you've earned more than this during the year (from any salary and some benefits) you will pay tax on savings interest (barring cash ISAs which are tax free), if not you won't. Yet remember savings accounts take basic rate tax off automatically, so if you need to claim it back you'll need to fill out an R40 form which can be found on the HMRC website.


Click reply to discuss.

Comments

  • jem16
    jem16 Posts: 19,860 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Yet remember savings accounts take basic rate tax off automatically

    If you know you are not going to have enough income to pay tax then you can fill in form R85 and have your interest paid gross.
  • CLAPTON
    CLAPTON Posts: 41,865 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    well the 10% tax rate still exists for interest on savings .. if relevant you can claim the tax back
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 354.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 455.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 247.4K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 604.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.5K Life & Family
  • 261.7K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.