Check of self assessment letter

emskyxx

My partners mum has received a letter today from HMRC. It's not the easiest letter to understand but what I can make of it, they are checking her self assessment tax return from the year ending April 2011.

She is retired and only receives a state pension.

They have asked for a copy of information received showing HMRC are collecting unpaid tax of £7,448 through 2011/2012 tax code.

Does this mean they are expecting her to pay £7,448 to them? If anybody can shed any light on this I'd be grateful as we are unable to ring until Monday and understandably this is causing worry to her.

I should mention that when she completed the tax return in 2011 they sent her a payment of over £5000 which she obviously disputed. They said it was an error and they would collect it back from her. When they didn't collect it after a couple of weeks, she made another call to them and they told her that it was in fact correct and that she needn't worry. She double checked again a few days later and was told the same thing.

I'm wondering if it could be related to this, if so, would she be expected to pay it back in a lump sum?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

ceeforcat

I think that we need more details here regarding the content of the letter from HMRC.

Much of what you have related is just impossible with a major mess up somewhere e.g.

'She is retired and just receives a state pension'. How then could she be overpaid or underpaid?

'They have asked for a copy of information received showing HMRC are collecting unpaid tax of £7,448 through 2011/2012 tax code'

Tax code against what?

Are you sure there is no other income? An ocupational pension, perhaps?

SueMaggie

If your partner's Mum is over 60 and has less than £17k income a year, the organisation Tax Help for Older People http://www.taxvol.org.uk/ can help her with this and it's completely free.

They are a charity staffed by people who used to work for HMRC or as accountants and know their stuff. They sorted out a very complex query for a family member very quickly and painlessly so it's worth her giving them a ring.

I have no connection with this organisation other than a family member having used it, but they were so great I think more people need to know about them.