Self Assessment question - Did I pay this years tax last year?

pepsi_max2k

Just doing my SA and noticed something that's confused me.

Here's my return I did last year:

Total tax, Class 4 NIC and Student loan due for 2010-11 £3,566.12
Plus
First payment on account for 2011-12 £1,783.06
Payment due by 31 January 2012

This amount does not take into account any 2010-11 payments on account you may have already made or tax due for earlier years.
£5,349.18
Second payment on account for 2011-12 will be due by 31 July 2012 £1,783.06

That shows the entire tax amount for 2010 - 2011, then divided by two and split over the next year for total 2011 - 2012.

Now I've just filled out this year's (2011 - 2012) one:

Total tax, Class 4 NIC and Student loan due for 2011-12 £2,663.43
Plus
First payment on account for 2012-13 £1,331.71
Payment due by 31 January 2013

This amount does not take into account any 2011-12 payments on account you may have already made
£3,995.14
Second payment on account for 2012-13 will be due by 31 July 2013 £1,331.72

So now it's asking for total payment for 2011 - 2012 (again?) based on the new figures, and asking for payment for 2012 - 2013.

What am I missing? Surely it's not charged me 2011-2012 tax in the first one, and is asking for it again in the second because I've forgot to say I paid it last year somewhere? Although it does clearly say it doesn't take in to account previous years payments... Should I be adding last years figures in somewhere?

SansVoisins

They are utterly confusing but:
in Jan 2013 you finish paying all tax that was due for yr 2011-12 plus the first instalment of two for tax due for year 2012-13 (instalments estimated by them based on your last filed tax return). The second instalment is due in July 2013.
But you should already have paid most if not all tax for 2011-12 in Jan and July 2012 so you may only need to make a balancing payment in Jan 2013 for yr 2011-12 if the estimate was inaccurate. So you are actually due to pay about half the tax due for yr 2012-13.
The confusion arises because the SA website does not show what you have actually paid, you need to look at your account for history of payments and credits (if any). Nor do they show you what you actually need to pay in January.

pepsi_max2k

Oh that's even more confusing...

22 Jun 2012Payment 1783.06 03

Apr 2012Payment 3.80

16 Feb 2012Payment 5352.40

31 Jan 2011Repayment supplement (interest) 0.04

11 Jan 2011 Payment 847.91

31 Jan 2010 Overpayment from tax return for tax year ending 05 Apr 2009 7.75

2009:
Tax -7.75
Tax overpaid from return filed 7.75
Sub total 0.00

2010:
Sub total 855.70

2011:
Sub total 3570.80

2012:
Sub total 3568.46

So it looks like I've paid everything due due for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The newes SA shows the re-calculated-based-on-actual-figures 2011-2012 amount (2,663.43) and asks me to pay it (along with 2012-2013 amounts), yet the above suggests I've already paid for 2012 (at the previously guestimated-based-on-2010-2011-figures amount). Is there a field somewhere in the SA that I'm meant to put in the amount I've already paid last year for last year's tax so it knows not to charge me again?

Still confused Accountant time?

Oliver_Zarmy

pepsi_max2k wrote: »

Oh that's even more confusing...

So it looks like I've paid everything due due for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The newes SA shows the re-calculated-based-on-actual-figures 2011-2012 amount (2,663.43) and asks me to pay it (along with 2012-2013 amounts), yet the above suggests I've already paid for 2012 (at the previously guestimated-based-on-2010-2011-figures amount). Is there a field somewhere in the SA that I'm meant to put in the amount I've already paid last year for last year's tax so it knows not to charge me again?

Still confused Accountant time?

These are just calculations of your liability and not requests for payment.

Referring to the year 2011-2012 the position is:-

Total liability £2663.43 towards which you have made payments on account of £1783.06 0n 31 Jan 2012 and 31 July 2012.So you have already (more than) settled your total liability for 2011-2012 and have in fact overpaid by £902.69.

On 31 Jan 2013 you have to make a payment on account of your 2012-2013 liability and this is calculated as 50% of your total liability for the preceding year 2011-2012.So on 31 Jan 2013 you are due to pay £2663.43 x 50% = £1331.71 against which HMRC will set off the £902.69 overpaid for 2011-2012 so that you just have to pay them £429.02 on that date.

On 31 July 2013 you will be due to pay your second payment on account of £1331.71 for 2012-2013.On 31 January 2014 you will make any balancing payment for the year 2012-2013 ie any amount not already covered by the two payments on account.

These principles will have applied for all earlier years and will apply for all later years. HMRC issue statements of account (which are separate from the self assessment calculations of liability which were the subject of your original post) and these will show/give credit for payments which you have made.

Hope this provides some clarification.