Declared income in 08-09 yr when should have done in 09-10 yr

chrismac1

You're not the only one who has been burnt from HMRC helpline advice. I got a new client who was in a real mess with her accounts thanks to basing her tax return preparation on advice she'd had on the phone from HMRC. It was not necessarily the case that the advice was bad, just probably not put accross in a way which my client could understand.

bitsandpieces

Sorry about leaving this for ages - I hate tax returns

The result of this mistake with declaring SE income is that I overpaid tax a little. I could have used the money at the time, but not sure whether the amount involved is now worth the hassle of trying to get it back from HMRC (even if I can convince them that I overpaid due to their mistake not mine). Am I obliged to let HMRC know about this mistake, given that it has clearly not brought me any financial benefit?