Owe Money to HMRC

jcrymer

A few years ago I was self employed (a taxi driver), I put my self-assessment tax return into the hands of someone who did it for a few other drivers, turns out she never sent it in and I got a late fine. Because it wasnt submitted they guessed what I owed them and have been chasing me for it, plus the fine and interest, about £1000 total so not a lot.

Anyway, in Feb 2010 I became unemployed and still am (now on ESA due to road accident). I have written to HMRC asking them to write it off.

Given the fact that I'm unemployed, and if I had paid the tax bill would have been entitled to a refund or at least some of it, do you think they will right it off?

redpete

Is the amount they estimated more than the tax you should owe?

If so can't you resubmit the tax return in question yourself with the correct data, then at least the tax demand will be for the right amount. This has more chance of working than asking them to completely forget about the tax you owe.

fermi

http://taxaid.org.uk/guides/tax-debt/time

jcrymer

redpete wrote: »

Is the amount they estimated more than the tax you should owe?

If so can't you resubmit the tax return in question yourself with the correct data, then at least the tax demand will be for the right amount. This has more chance of working than asking them to completely forget about the tax you owe.

Well I wasn't charged any tax on my other two returns as I made very little, all my invoices, receipts etc were given to the woman supposed to be doing my return and i don't know how to contact her now.

poppasmurf_bewdley

HMRC will not write off the £1000 they say you owe them. It's up to you to prove you either don't owe it or to pay it.

If they wrote off the tax due from everybody in financial difficulties, that would apply to half the people in this country.

jcrymer

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

HMRC will not write off the £1000 they say you owe them. It's up to you to prove you either don't owe it or to pay it.

If they wrote off the tax due from everybody in financial difficulties, that would apply to half the people in this country.

I release that, but my point was if it had been paid, I would be entitled to a tax refund due to being unemployed, so just wondering are they going to try and recover money from someone who is unemployed, disabled, with no assets who in all likely hood could reclaim it.

ladybez

What year does the assessment relate to? If its 2009-2010, it would depend on your actual earnings for that year whether any repayment was due to you. It would be irrelevant what your earnings are currently. Yes HMRC will persue someone who is unemployed for tax. (have personal experience with that one)

tlh858

jcrymer wrote: »

I release that, but my point was if it had been paid, I would be entitled to a tax refund due to being unemployed

Being unemployed does not mean you are automatically entitled to a refund of tax.

You would only be due a refund if you had paid too much tax, the most common situation where this occurs is for people who are paid on PAYE and therefore pay a certain amount of tax monthly, which assumes they will be employed for the whole of that tax year.

For SA, your tax due is calculated after the end of the year, so being unemployed after that would make no difference to the tax due in previous years.