Tax Bill - Advice needed please I am worried sick

homeworkgirl

Please can anyone help me. I have received a demand for just over £3,000 which relates to when I was self employed and worked as a Mystery Shopper for a year about 4 years ago. I rang the tax office once about 3 years ago for some help but came across a very obnoxious young man who obviously wasnt interested and since then I am afraid that prob due to my depression I have buried my head in the sand but now this demand has arrived from debt collectors so I have to face it.

I only did about 100 jobs in total and I know I made a slight loss, I used to have copies of all the receipts etc on my pc but unfortunately that crashed so I have no way of accessing them so I can't prove my income for that year. I presume this £3,000 fine has accumulated over the years as I didnt fill in the tax return for that year. I havent worked since as I went on to be a carer for my parents. I am now losing sleep over this I am so worried, not only about finding the money to pay this but also what do I do about proving my income for that year? I know I have been very stupid not facing it and am expecting a barrage of criticism but believe me I am paying for it now.

Please can anyone advise me what to do.

Your_Hero

homeworkgirl wrote: »

Please can anyone help me. I have received a demand for just over £3,000 which relates to when I was self employed and worked as a Mystery Shopper for a year about 4 years ago. I rang the tax office once about 3 years ago for some help but came across a very obnoxious young man who obviously wasnt interested and since then I am afraid that prob due to my depression I have buried my head in the sand but now this demand has arrived from debt collectors so I have to face it.

I only did about 100 jobs in total and I know I made a slight loss, I used to have copies of all the receipts etc on my pc but unfortunately that crashed so I have no way of accessing them so I can't prove my income for that year. I presume this £3,000 fine has accumulated over the years as I didnt fill in the tax return for that year. I havent worked since as I went on to be a carer for my parents. I am now losing sleep over this I am so worried, not only about finding the money to pay this but also what do I do about proving my income for that year? I know I have been very stupid not facing it and am expecting a barrage of criticism but believe me I am paying for it now.

Please can anyone advise me what to do.

Surely you must have known you had to pay your taxes on the self-employed income? Even if you made a loss, you need to file a tax-return. Also you may owe class 2 NICs, which is why it's come up to £3,000 (plus interest, penalties etc.). And if you've not notified them when you stopped self-employment then you will continue accruing debt.

Have you spoken to HMRC and asked them on the next steps?

homeworkgirl

Yes of course I knew, I was up together when I was doing it and in a good place and like I said I kept copies of receipts etc online. PC totally crashed so I lost them, rang tax office few months after who were really unhelpful and then due to family bereavements I became severely depressed and buried my head in the sand and let it mount up. I know I've been stupid to do it and it's going to cost me dearly but I now want to know how I can put it right, what will happen etc if I can't prove my income for that year and was hoping for some advice from knowledgeable folk so I can know what to expect.

purdyoaten

I strongly suspect that HMRC has made what is known as a determination - ie in the absence of returns a figure of profit has been 'determined' in order to force the issue. These are notoriously difficult to overturn these days.

You really need to seek the advice of a good reputable tax adviser - this is not something that you can tackle on your own.