£10,000 + tax reclaim - out of time to claim

dizz_2

In summary - I had a business that was open during '06 & '07. I didn't hand any tax forms in until October'09. I thought I was entitled to claim back £10,000. I've been told that I am out of time to claim.

In more detail - I stuck my head in the sand and thought that I owed money. Just before the forms were handed into the Inland Revenue I was told by an accountant friend that I would be owed money as the business had made such a huge loss. I worked out that it was to the tune of £10k. Having been in such a huge financial mess I was over the moon at the thought of being owed this money.

The Inland Revenue have told me that I am out of time to claim. It's taken them 7 months to eventually deal with the paperwork & tell me the outcome. There was initially confusion as to whether this was a Terminal Loss (which I would be in time to claim for) or a General Income Loss (which it turned out to be - in which I only had 22 months to claim).

Has anyone every made an appeal to the Inland Revenue in relation to a late claim & received their money in full?. According to the BIM 75230 & BIM 75235 guidelines I may possibly be able to appeal on the grounds of mental illess & genuinely being unaware that I had a claim to make. It goes without saying that if you were struggling financially and were aware that someone owed you £10k - you would have done something about it immediately!!!. Please help me - I am desperately upset at the news.

Lokolo

I didn't think you can get £10k back because you had a loss. I understand is that any losses you make you can bring forward to futures years where you make a profit, and you can offset any tax from the loss?

Someone might have more info than me on this though!

dizz_2

The business is closed so there is nothing to set a loss against?. I was told by an accountant that it would be a rebate. Any thoughts welcome. I'm in a pickle.

olivetti

Did you pay any tax for those periods at all? If you paid no tax you cannot get a repayment, losses or no losses.

BoGoF

You say that it is a 'general income' type so I assume you had other income in these years (perhaps employment) against which you could set the losses. Out of interest how much were the losses - would have to be significant to generate a £10,000 repayment.

The time limits are statutory for such claims and in my time in HMRC have never seen them extended, it's the old chestnut - ignorance of the law is no excuse.

RayWolfe

BoGoF wrote: »

so I assume you had other income in these years (perhaps employment) against which you could set the losses.

Are you certain? I don't' think losses on a business can be offset against employment income.

BoGoF

RayWolfe wrote: »

Are you certain? I don't' think losses on a business can be offset against employment income.

I'm 100% positive

Pennywise

Surely at least some of the loss must class as terminal loss if you've closed your business?

Are you out of time for all periods or just the earlier periods? If so, could the year ends be changed so that the losses fall into a different tax year or are there any other legitimate accounting adjustments to move losses from earlier to later years. A GOOD accountant will know these possibilities - for the sake of £10k, you should be paying for a properly experienced and qualified accountant - sounds more like you've been using a "mate" instead - they should know the rules and should have flagged up the problems before submitting anything to HMRC.