I've been stupid - P45 and tax question

nickthegreat

Ruthy1604 wrote: »

I work in payroll for a smallish company and tbh I would never see the cv of a new starter, and i certainly wouldnt bother comparing records if I did. The p46 does not have any previous tax/ pay details on it - so you should just honestly tick the most relevant box. As long as you are not applying to a very small company with one person doing all the admin, you'll be fine.

As for the HMRC questioning how you have been supporting yourself, that's a separate issue. I'd think they'd have easier cases to target, but who knows!

Ruth

thanks for that, what i wanted to hear

i'm not really worried about being 'targeted', i'm more interested in what that would involve, so i can decide (if necessary) whether to come clean and say i've been a bit stupid in not being more forthcoming. i'm not lying about my hours, so i don't owe tax and i could be wrong, but i can't see them just assuming and taxing me on a 38 or so hour week because of a lack of evidence to the contrary.

i can't see them 'targeting' me if there's no money at the end of it. i can understand if they think i'm working more than i should, but im not

t0rt0ise

You may not have earned enough for tax but you may have for National Insurance so don't assume that they won't be after you for money if you come clean.

But the HMRC don't care what you've been doing up until now. I've been in and out of work the past few years and living off savings in between times so not signing on or anything and nobody cares how I live. So nobody is going to question anything. Just tick the relevant box on the P46 when you get a job and the HMRC will issue a tax code.

nickthegreat

t0rt0ise wrote: »

You may not have earned enough for tax but you may have for National Insurance so don't assume that they won't be after you for money if you come clean.

But the HMRC don't care what you've been doing up until now. I've been in and out of work the past few years and living off savings in between times so not signing on or anything and nobody cares how I live. So nobody is going to question anything. Just tick the relevant box on the P46 when you get a job and the HMRC will issue a tax code.

cool, thanks for the advice. not worried about NI though either, because doesn't that help you in the long term anyway pensions wise? i don't mind paying what i 'owe', so to speak. i'm more worried about appearing to cheat the system, when i know i actually haven't. and also getting into a situation with a prospective employer, if an offer arises, because my job history doesn't match any reported taxable income.

if that makes sense!

PlutoinCapricorn

Nick, I have just remembered something that might be relevant.

When I resigned from PAYE employment to become entirely self employed, I was given a P45. As I had no new employer and was not going to claim JSA, I had no one to give it to so just kept it.

I was entirely legal and completed self assessment tax returns. I had a strange letter or two from HMRC that said I might need to complete tax returns. I thought that they would soon realise that I already was filing returns, then I suddenly saw the light: I had left the P45 dangling! They had not checked my NI: perhaps it was an automatic letter. I sent it to HMRC with a letter explaining everything, and they were happy.

Someone else had a similar problem recently. You said you did some work at Uni where everything was above board. Did you get a P45 from that? What did you do with it? HMRC may have found a gap since you finished: did you get any letters from them?

nickthegreat

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

Nick, I have just remembered something that might be relevant.

When I resigned from PAYE employment to become entirely self employed, I was given a P45. As I had no new employer and was not going to claim JSA, I had no one to give it to so just kept it.

I was entirely legal and completed self assessment tax returns. I had a strange letter or two from HMRC that said I might need to complete tax returns. I thought that they would soon realise that I already was filing returns, then I suddenly saw the light: I had left the P45 dangling! They had not checked my NI: perhaps it was an automatic letter. I sent it to HMRC with a letter explaining everything, and they were happy.

Someone else had a similar problem recently. You said you did some work at Uni where everything was above board. Did you get a P45 from that? What did you do with it? HMRC may have found a gap since you finished: did you get any letters from them?

nah, i've not received any letters from them, although i don't pay council tax at my property (its included), or utilities, so i'm not the easiest person to contact. (although i did claim housing benefit for a period a few years ago and am still paying back an overpayment) - so they should know where i live.

so basically - for the new employer, don't worry. hand in a p46.

if the taxman calls, either claim i've been supported by someone else (i don't like this idea), or tell the truth that i've been working part time but my employer has refused to give me payslips (i already said this to housing benefit a few years back, and they seemed ok with it). i am happy to admit to the hours i'm doing, even if i owe NI. (i prefer this option, purely because i'm not lying).

the former is a bit of a bad option i think. a little bit of digging will surely show its not true. the latter however - i'm still not sure what this will quite entail.....a bit of a bollocking, a full look at my bank records, an insistance of knowing where i worked (which i would try to - feabily - withold - because the housing dept knowing this information anyway)