Employed: Self Assessment Help!

shaftonred

Sorry if this question has been asked before but its that time of the year again where the taxman wants more money from me despite having more than enough from me over the years.

I am employed and are classed as office based though I do go out on sales calls. The company pay me £450 per month as a car allowance which obviously drops by quite a bit when taxed and this is supposed to cover the car, extra insurance and wear and tear... when in fact it struggles to even cover the car. However as and when I am out on calls I claim £0.20p per mile for the fuel used and over the years have been able to claim back in the region of £600-800 in overpaid tax.

Then three years ago I had a letter telling me I had to register for the Self Assessment website and that they had changed my tax code to take this into account which left me having to pay them back more in the first year rather than getting anything from them. Last year I had someone file my return online with all the information but unfortunately they are overseas which now leaves me in the lurch with just over 24hrs to go.

I have in my possession, P60, business mileage for the year and my medical insurance amount for tax purposes.

My questions are as follows:

1) How can I tell what amount I have over / underpaid in tax?
2) By including the private medical amount in the tax return does this help or hinder me?
3) Is there any way of getting money back from them with the exception of adding phantom mileage or doing anything illegal... by this I mean any loopholes or tips?

Thanks for any help you can give me... I am totally confused when it comes to working our what I should and shouldnt have paid and the local tax office don't really explain things clearly.

Murdina

You need to select the employment pages on the tailor your return section.
You will need to show your P60 and your benefits in kind (medical) on that.
You also include anything you are claiming in terms of expenses on that section.
You must show full details of all other income of any kind on the rest of the return.
The online return software will work out if you have to pay any tax. I am not sure I really follow your comments about coding other than that if you had filed sooner you could have had any underpaid tax of < 2k coded in but the deadline for that has passed. Coding is just a mechanism to collect tax and if you do annual returns is of less relevance as the return works as a catch up each year - so long as you fill it in correctly.
Maybe get a copy of last year's and use that as your starting point.

shaftonred

So i have just tried to file my tax returns taking into account my mileage and its asking what amount I have either overpaid or underpaid.... this is where I am completely confused and with them on strike today I am not any further on.

I would appreciate any help on this as I am heading for a fine here the way things are going.

So for last year I earned £48897.09 and had £8615.20 tax deducted.
My final tax code was 865L.
I did a total of 16248 business miles and claimed back £3202.44 from work for my fuel

As far as I am concerned I have paid too much tax but would really appreciate your help with this :huh:

00ec25

for 10/11 the basic tax free code was 647, ie you get £6,475 tax free then pay tax at 20% on the next £37,400 and then pay tax at 40% on everything after that

for mileage HMRC has an official rate - for 10/11 it was 40 pence per mile. Your company pays 20p so you are "underpaid" by 20p pence per mile and are entitled to a tax refund on the tax payable on that 20p - in your case this tax relief has been added to your tax code which is why you have the code of 865 ie you are allowed £8665 tax free each year

on that basis the tax is correct you earned 48,897 less tax free 8665 = 40,242 taxable. 20% Tax on first 37,400 = 7,480 and 40% tax on the remaining 2842 (40242 - 37400) is 1136. Total tax payable 8616 (obviously rounding account for the pennies differncne to your figure)

suso

Some basic maths show a slight overpayment of tax

income - 48897.00
less personal allowance - 6475 = 42422.00
less expenses - 2312 = 40110.00 (calculated 10,000 miles at 20p per mile, 6248 miles at 5p per mile)

Income taxable at 20% 37400 = 7480
Income taxable at 40% 2710 = 1083
total - 8563

tax deducted 8615

overpayment 52.00

personal pension payments, gift aid will make a difference or any other forms of income, as would any other benefit in kind

shaftonred

Thanks for your help... last 2 questions that I have.. I fogot to mention that I have private healthcare which I was given the amount for tax purposes to be £499 for the year. How would this effect it?

You also mention the gift aid and pensions... I have given money to charity online this year and also have a pension, so would it benefit me to declare either of these into the self assessment return?

BoGoF

The £499 will need to be added on to your taxable income.

If you 'gift-aided' the donations you can claim them. What type of pension do you have, how do you pay it?

shaftonred

BoGoF wrote: »

The £499 will need to be added on to your taxable income.

If you 'gift-aided' the donations you can claim them. What type of pension do you have, how do you pay it?

And would this be beneficial to me to add this or mean I have less tax back?

I have a company pension with Prudential where I put in 5% of my salary each month and the company puts in 7.5%.

BoGoF

Is the pension deducted from gross or net salary?

Mikeyorks

shaftonred wrote: »

And would this be beneficial to me to add this or mean I have less tax back?

It's not an option. It's a taxable benefit in kind .... therefore it increases the tax chargeable. If you leave it off the Return it will increase any refund due to you by (£499 @ 40% £199.60. Which they will immediately reclaim as soon as they get round to checking the Return.

shaftonred

BoGoF wrote: »

Is the pension deducted from gross or net salary?

From my gross salary amount.