Help with overdue HMRC penalties

QueenElsa

Hi there, and thanks for reading my post. I'm in a bit of a mess... basically I owe £2576 in penalties to HMRC for not filing my tax return. I don't know what to do, but I'm sure I did file it correctly. I've been in the USA for well over a year due to a family illness and have returned to this huge bill.

Do I just write to them and explain the situation? There's no way I can pay all of this, and it seems ridiculous that this entire bill is late fees.

Thank you for any help you can offer

hohum

QueenElsa wrote: »

Hi there, and thanks for reading my post. I'm in a bit of a mess... basically I owe £2576 in penalties to HMRC for not filing my tax return. I don't know what to do, but I'm sure I did file it correctly. I've been in the USA for well over a year due to a family illness and have returned to this huge bill.

Do I just write to them and explain the situation? There's no way I can pay all of this, and it seems ridiculous that this entire bill is late fees.

Thank you for any help you can offer

Ouch. Do you file online? You will easily be able to check by logging in to your account. Is the money owed definitely all penalties for not filing?

Note that even if you filed, if there is money you owed for the tax year ending April 13, that was not paid by Jan 14, you'll be getting fines.

You need to a) work out if you do actually owe the money and then b) work on a plan to pay it. HMRC are not ones that I would ignore and count as a priority debt. You can do a payment plan although I've found that the repayment amounts are not always realistic...

I think perhaps you might need some more specialist or at least business specific advice (am assuming your earnings come mostly from self employment?). You could have a look at Business debtline https://www.businessdebtline.org/EW/Pages/default.aspx they specialise in advice for self employed

QueenElsa

I do file online, yes, and that's ALL penalties. I've just looked on their website, and it says my only outstanding tax return is 2012/2013. My fees are:
Tax year ending 05 Apr 2013 1300.00
Tax year ending 05 Apr 2011 1276.07
Total 2576.07

I'm sure I filed my return, but can't see anywhere on the website where to look. Also, do you know if I have to declare a cash gift on my tax return? I receive £800 per month, every month from a family member to supplement my income.

Thanks very much for your help xxx

hohum

QueenElsa wrote: »

I do file online, yes, and that's ALL penalties. I've just looked on their website, and it says my only outstanding tax return is 2012/2013. My fees are:
Tax year ending 05 Apr 2013 1300.00
Tax year ending 05 Apr 2011 1276.07
Total 2576.07

I'm sure I filed my return, but can't see anywhere on the website where to look. Also, do you know if I have to declare a cash gift on my tax return? I receive £800 per month, every month from a family member to supplement my income.

Thanks very much for your help xxx

I've kind of reached the limit of my abilities re outstanding tax if you want to have a look at returns available, have a look at left hand column, tax return options, then select the year. I have to say it's sounding like you didn't submit the return OR you didn't pay tax due.

If you want to see what you owe by account, go to view account then select the relevant tax year from the drop down menu.

I think giving business debtline a ring would be a good idea too.

Re gifts I think that's also beyond my knowledge and you'd need to either get more qualified advice or look at the guidance for self assessment. i don't think that gifts of money are liable for income tax, but they might be liable for capital gains. But I really am uninformed about this so I am happy to be corrected!

Claree__x

Hey, firstly, don't panic.

Have you always been self employed and have you always filed self assessments? The penalties are for the tax years 2010/11 and 2012/13. The later one was due by January 2014 - have you not filed it yet?

I'm an accountant - if you want to PM me your account details I can have a quick look? (Happy to provide you with my employment details so you can see that I'm legit!)