Late Tax Return - I'm an idiot. Help!

rachelstephen7

Moved house last year and thought I told everyone about it, turns out I forgot HMRC…

I was self employed nearly 2 years ago now (tax year 10/11) for all of a month, if that. A friend asked me to help him out and as I was between jobs I registered self employed, did 2 projects (making a total of about £700) and then de registered when the project finished and then ended up on JSA for a few months.

We had a redirection set up when we moved, but for 3 months.

The family who bought our home dropped some post into us yesterday and there are 3 letters from the HMRC. First one is dated end of December reminding me to do my return, and then 2 ‘late’ ones after this. Apparently I now have to pay a £100 fine on top of my tax bill.

Really annoyed at myself for not realising I had to tell them, and to be honest I completely forgot.

The problem now is I’ve looked through all my old paperwork and can’t find anything that tells me how much I did actually earn, so I’m unsure how to do a tax return. I need to check out my hard drive and see if I have any old invoices saved on there, but I really don’t know where to start!!

Is the best thing to do to ring them? I really have no idea where to start and so annoyed I now have to pay a £100 fine!

-Worried Rach x

tyllwyd

Are you still in touch with the person you worked for? Could they give you a copy of your invoices? Then you could match that up with your bank account.

rachelstephen7

I’m not no, he’s no longer in business so not sure how I’d get hold of him.

Annoyingly it’s an old bank account which has since been closed and I’m pretty sure my statements for it are in the big box of stuff at my ex’s (which I ain’t ever seeing again, not the friendliest of breakups! Lol)

My hope is I have a digital copy on my hard drive! But I assume there is no way out of paying the fine now?

Mikeyorks

rachelstephen7 wrote: »

But I assume there is no way out of paying the fine now?

Highly unlikely. As you'd registered for SA then you were aware of the need for a Return.

Along with the late filing penalties I notice HMRC, from their homepage, have included this flowchart :

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/forms/late-return.pdf

....... which clarifies a Return is still needed from you for 10/11. In which case the penalty will still apply. You should also have had an earlier 'Notice to file' in early 2010.

rachelstephen7

I was self employed for April 2010, but in May told them I was no longer self employed. Was then on JSA until august when I started in my new job. I'm not sure what they sent right back then, but the first I heard from them after was in December 2011, unfortunately many months after I'd moved.

Right, time to go invoice hunting.

Thanks for the help though guys x

Mikeyorks

rachelstephen7 wrote: »

I was self employed for April 2010, but in May told them I was no longer self employed.

In terms of your tax - as opposed to your NI (Class 2), that would be irrelevant. They won't accept 'cessation' from SA until you've filed the outstanding Return. As, even though you may have PAYE income, that is not to say you're not self employed alongside.

tyllwyd

I don't know about the fine, but it doesn't sound very hopeful to me - you knew you had been self-employed so there would be tax to pay at some point in the future, and HMRC definitely wrote to you in December 2011 (and probably in April/May 2011), so as far as they are concerned they've done all they needed to do.

Although the bank account is closed, have you tried contacting them to see if they might be able to send statements? Worth a try at least!

JimmyTheWig

rachelstephen7 wrote: »

But I assume there is no way out of paying the fine now?

Always worth a phone call to appologise, explain why it happened and ask nicely if they'll waive it.

I don't hold out much hope, but you never know...

chrismac1

Re. the fine. For those people who have no tax to pay but get fined - some will no doubt end up over £1,000 in fines if they leave it to August, for example - it's going to be interesting to see what happens. Inevitably there are going to be appeals and Tribunals on these fines. Will the Tribunals consider it reasonable to fine people for non-filing when there is no tax to pay?

I suspect they may not, at least in some cases. This is akin to some cases in CIS where non-submission of returns is £100 a month per return, so fines rapidly build up to tens of thousands even where there is no tax due.

simo1989-2008

i have also received a letter today dated 15th feb. i was self employed for two months and then de registered. i was sent no forms or letters as reminders and when i de registered i was told i hadnt been self employed for long enough to be taxed with a tax return. the business continued solely with the other partner. i got a £100 fine and it also says i owe £10 for every day over. so at the minute i seem to have a debt of £100 plus £290 and counting. i dont know how this can happen when i only recieved letter today and was previously told i had no tax return....

Mikeyorks

simo1989-2008 wrote: »

when i de registered i was told i hadnt been self employed for long enough to be taxed with a tax return.

I hope you got that in writing - as it sounds rather fanciful? In particular as this sounds to have been a partnership.