Foreign interest, other revenue, isePankur

jamesd

As an investment activity I do peer to peer lending via the Estonian firm isePankur, to borrowers in Estonia. Possibly other countries later, not the UK.

For 2012/13 I will be declaring about £165 of foreign untaxed interest income. Is there any prospect of HMRC having discretion not to require a tax return? In the same package I'll be sending full details of income for the year that could be used to complete a tax return.

For 2012/13 that may rise to £1,000. Probably not to £2,000, though I'll be trying to invest more and be happy if it gets there. If I give an estimate of £1,000, how far above that would it need to be before HMRC would want to see an adjustment to the forecast part way through the year?

I'm not currently in SA. Is there any prospect of not entering SA? More rigid timetables and penalties make it preferable not to if I can avoid it. Other income is quite straightforward PAYE, domestic interest and some domestic P2P interest untaxed. Not higher rate just because of salary sacrifice pension contributions that keep me in the basic rate range.

Another activity I do there is buying and selling loans, mostly selling. Usually for a small profit, sometimes for a small loss when I anticipate a default and prefer to sell rather than wait. The total gain is unlikely to exceed £500 for 2013/14. Are these income or capital transactions? I assume selling at a loss cannot be deducted from profits from selling for a profit, but is that assumption correct? And if so, that implies to me that these would be income rather than capital transactions.

Lots of questions, please do answer just the bits where you know the answer if you happen not to know all of the answers.

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush

jamesd wrote: »

Is there any prospect of HMRC having discretion not to require a tax return?

No. If you have foreign income of any amount you'll be required to complete a return.