Tax on Savings Interest - HMRC records

le_loup

Harrumph. Not ever half an hour in my case.

gizz_mo

I think some of you are missing the point. I do not have an issue keeping the paperwork and pulling it out at the time I need it for my self assessment. I don't know why colston seems to think I am blaming anyone, let alone the banks??? Where in any of my previous messages did I ever attribute blame to any banks???
First you accuse me of trying to evade tax, then you accuse me of blaming banks...you need to lighten up and realise all I am looking for is a simple way to ensure this information is available without relying on peoples differing level of organisational skills. Sheeeeeesh.

In the example I provided with ING Direct no spreadsheet would have been able to resolve that issue. I'm merely highlighting the potential for gaps to happen, and as a law abiding citizen who always pays every penny of tax I am supposed to, I am trying to avoid reporting incorrectly on my tax return. I could pull together all the tax info I have and submit that on my return, but I could still not be 100 % confident that it was exhaustive as the ING Direct account demonstrated.

Thanks very much to those of you who provided useful info.

blinko

It can't be that much work. at MOST there will be 12 entries in 1 year (assumed monthly interest paid).

You have 9 months to sort out your tax affairs and you only need to do it once a year. So I am not sure where the it is too much work comes from.

What do you do work as?

neil324

HMRC most certainly do have records of tax paid or un paid on bank account interest. I received a tax rebate to the exact penny for bank interest last year without requesting one.

Whether they will give you the information is another thing.

Contact them by phone or person, they are very helpful either way.

Also if I remember correctly prior to about 2008 all R40 forms submitted for a tax rebate on savings interest had to be accompanied by a Section 975 tax certificate from a bank, after this date HMRC did not need to see the Section 975 tax certificate.

Thrugelmir

le_loup wrote: »

Six years.

HMRC can assess as far back as it wishes.

Adlibjac

I had an ING account which I closed just before they became Barclays.

They had a facility on the website where you could print out your tax certificate for interest for the year (rather than relying on them sending one to you).

Shame they were taken over by Barclays as they had a very user-friendly website.

gizz_mo

blinko wrote: »

It can't be that much work. at MOST there will be 12 entries in 1 year (assumed monthly interest paid).

12 entries per each account you mean. (last count for that tax year including closed accounts is sitting at 15 - and that's without 3 empty accts that I wasn't expecting to have credited any interest).

3 x interest paying current accounts
3 x regular savers
2 x fixed rate savings accounts
7 x easy access accounts (some closed during the year)

It still boils down to people's organisational skills and their ability to remember, and therefore the possibility for mistakes to happen.

blinko wrote: »

What do you do work as?

How is this question relevant?

Herbalus

gizz_mo wrote: »

It still boils down to people's organisational skills and their ability to remember, and therefore the possibility for mistakes to happen.

Agree. People need a little motivation to do work like this. Motivation like avoiding spending time worrying that you don't have the information to hand, and that HMRC might accuse you of lying if you report your finances incorrectly.

Last April I had to figure out how much interest I'd got over the previous year, and it was a nightmare. I know the figure I submitted to HMRC was wrong, but it was as accurate as I could get. As a result I started a spreadsheet, and when I check each account once per month, it takes 30 seconds to enter the interest into the spreadsheet. I imagine you might want to do the same when you realise that it's no more work than trying to do it retrospectively at the end of the year, and this way you'll know to the penny how much you've earned.

Plus, once you've learned like I did that HMRC need this information, it should be ingrained into your mindset to record pertinent information whenever you close accounts, so that you'll have it when you need it.

Primrose

I think it's another sneaky way of how banks or building societies have reduced their customer service and postage costs. They always used to send this information out on an annual basis. Now you have to remember to ask for it. I usually ask for a Certificate of tax deduction at the same time I close a savings account but it is rarely provided on the excuse that they only do it once a year, and then they simply forget about your request and you have to chase them again. Very annoying as these issues can easily slip through the net when you're a busy person.

colsten

I find it a lot more annoying that I receive annual interest statements for accounts that are supposedly fully online. I do not wish to receive any tax statements automatically for these accounts as I do know what interest I got paid, and if need be, I can download the online statement.