"We already have a reference number for you"

TwistedPsycho

Not quite a tax cutting question, but one that might become protracted.

I registered for Self-Assessment at the weekend as I am going to be doing an ad-hoc contract on a self-employed basis (in addition to full paid employment in a different industry).

Because I wanted to make sure I have done it right, I phoned them rather than did it online; the woman at the HMRC asked "We have a reference already generated for you, have you done self-employed work in the past?"...... I haven't.

Does that sound strange to anyone, or is that par for the course at the HMRC?

chrismac1

I think it's worth finding out exactly who they have under that number, the postcode, and so on before you submit anything against it. Believe me, the last thing anyone wants is for their UTR to be mixed up with someone else's! If you don't understand how that other record has been created, tell them it ain't yours and out it in writing so you don't get fined - then insist on a new one with no potentially nasty baggage.

TwistedPsycho

I will do. I did say to the woman that I have never done anything self-employed before and I got the impression that she just accepted it and was registering me as a new SA request.

The only think I can think of is when I was doing mystery shopping about 3 or 4 years ago and then I stopped when they went from PAYE to Contractor basis due to a change in owners.