Child Beneift Clawback - Threatening letter from HMRC

bloolagoon

Is it the letter with the blue and yellow box demanding you pay ASAP or they will start charging interest?

GingerBob_3

bloolagoon wrote: »

Is it the letter with the blue and yellow box demanding you pay ASAP or they will start charging interest?

No, it's not that one. Hopefully you should be able to see the letter now via the link in my last post.

To further clarify my situation and some details:

On the P60 there are two figures in a red box on the right called Pay and Tax Deducted. When these are added they amount to my annual gross salary, so this is the figure I used on the HMRC calculator when they ask for "Salary before tax". In the "Other employment income" box I put two items from my P11D. In "Pension contributions deducted from pay" I enter MY contributions (not the employer contributions). I then enter a small amount of gift aid benefit (£100) in th "Gift aid donations" box. After all this, the calculation says I owe nothing. Does all this seem reasonable?

Here's a link to the calculator:

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-calculator/main

As regards calling HMRC, the last time I did so (on a completely different matter), I went through their over-the-top security and then provided the details relevant to my enquiry. I then asked "can you tell me if I am due a rebate this year", to which the answer was "we're not here to provide information, we are here to collect it". I now only communicate with them in writing.

zagfles

GingerBob wrote: »

No, it's not that one. Hopefully you should be able to see the letter now via the link in my last post.

To further clarify my situation and some details:

On the P60 there are two figures in a red box on the right called Pay and Tax Deducted. When these are added they amount to my annual gross salary, so this is the figure I used on the HMRC calculator when they ask for "Salary before tax". In the "Other employment income" box I put two items from my P11D. In "Pension contributions deducted from pay" I enter MY contributions (not the employer contributions). I then enter a small amount of gift aid benefit (£100) in th "Gift aid donations" box. After all this, the calculation says I owe nothing. Does all this seem reasonable?

Here's a link to the calculator:

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-calculator/main

As regards calling HMRC, the last time I did so (on a completely different matter), I went through their over-the-top security and then provided the details relevant to my enquiry. I then asked "can you tell me if I am due a rebate this year", to which the answer was "we're not here to provide information, we are here to collect it". I now only communicate with them in writing.

You are getting your sums wrong, see my PP.

GingerBob_3

Yes, what you say seems correct when I check the figures in detail. So, the figure on P60, given as Pay is my gross taxable pay minus pension contributions. So I add this to the items from the P11D and take off Gift Aid. Thankfully, this gives me a figure just below 50K. From what you've explained, the figure given on the P60 as Tax Deducted can be ignored. Does this seem reasonable?

zagfles

GingerBob wrote: »

Yes, what you say seems correct when I check the figures in detail. So, the figure on P60, given as Pay is my gross taxable pay minus pension contributions. So I add this to the items from the P11D and take off Gift Aid. Thankfully, this gives me a figure just below 50K. From what you've explained, the figure given on the P60 as Tax Deducted can be ignored. Does this seem reasonable?

Yes, but what is it before you take off gift aid? If it's over £50k then you'll probably need to do a tax return to declare it. You should be declaring gift aid anyway as a higher rate taxpayer you'll get a rebate of 25% on all your gift aid.

If you had any bank interest (or other such income like dividends etc) you need to add those to your income.

GingerBob_3

Thanks again. The gift aid is just £100, so I'm still below the threshold without it, and I have no other taxable income.

There is an HMRC website where you can declare that you are not eligible for the clawback; I'll go there. I did wonder what would happen if I did nothing. Presumably they'd force me to fill out a tax return, which at the moment I'm not required to do.

What really irks me about this lot is that apart from it being the maddest of mad systems (apart from student loans), they already have all the information about my income, and they supposedly have integrated systems, so why can't they work this lot out for themselves instead of sending out objectionable letters, written by people who don't know about letter writing and associated etiquette.

zagfles

Well if you did do a tax return they'd owe you £25 for your gift aid! It might be possible to claim this by writing to them if you don't want to do a tax return. But tax returns are pretty easy if your affairs are simple - you can ignore 90% of it. Though you're too late for last tax year - if you did one they'd probably fine you for it being late! Worth bearing in mind for the future.