No UTR for first time self assessment

bookgirl15

I work & pay tax PAYE via my employer - all with this is up to date & correct . I undertook some freelance/ self employed work during 2014/15 which paid a small amount -£400. My expenses related to this work are around £420, so a small loss. Stupidly I left registering for self assessment till yesterday, I had misread information regarding self assessment & tax returns thinking if I registered in time for an activation code to be sent[7-10 days] I could then just fill out online tax return. I didn't know about UTR & it taking a month so I will now be late in filing. I understand I will be subject to £100 penalty for late filing and I accept this. Should I just wait for HMRC to contact me or do I need to phone?? This is the first time I have ever needed to do self assessment as have always paid tax PAYE, I know I have been foolish but am worried more penalties will be involved. Any advice would be most appreciated.

Pennywise

Pointless phoning as they can't expedite the issuing of the UTR number. You just have to let the system run it's course. It's possible they'll issue the number sooner than they say, so you may not miss the deadline. But, all may not be lost anyway, as you usually have three months from the issue of the "notice to deliver" the tax return to submit it, so the 31 Jan deadline may not apply. However, you will fall foul of the late-registration regime instead, so there may be a penalty for late registering rather than late filing. But, like I say, you can't speed it up from their end, just do things as quickly as you can at your end, to try to mitigate or eliminate penalties.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Wouldn't late registration come under the failure to notify regime? In which case any penalty is capped to the amount of taxes owed - nil in this case.

Is there even an obligation to notify HMRC if you have no net chargeable income?

I'm afraid OP has wasted their time registering for self assessment. I wouldn't have bothered. Even if they hadn't made a loss they could have just rung HMRC and had their tax code adjusted to collect the small amount of tax owed but as in this case there is none I don't think OP has any obligation to notify HMRC.

If I were OP i would ring HMRC and explain you made a small loss on a one off piece of freelance work and have no tax owed and see if they can cancel the registration.

isplumm

bookgirl15 wrote: »

I didn't know about UTR & it taking a month so I will now be late in filing. I understand I will be subject to £100 penalty for late filing and I accept this. Should I just wait for HMRC to contact me or do I need to phone?? This is the first time I have ever needed to do self assessment as have always paid tax PAYE, IAny advice would be most appreciated.

Hi,

Just call them - they will give you an extension as this is the 1st time your have completed a tax return - but I would ask whether you need to.

If you need to, then calling them should get you a 3 month extension - so no fines!

Mark

Dazed_and_confused

You cannot be fined for failing to submit a tax return if you haven't been asked to complete one so if you haven't been sent a tax return to complete or a notice to file one yet then you cant be late sending it in!

As Pennywise has mentioned you will get at least 3 months to submit the return once you receive it, there is no need to request an extension - surley you can get it filled in and submitted within the 3 months HMRC allow????

Late notification of self employment is a completely different matter which you might fall foul of but according to TheCyclingProgrammer there is no penalty if you don't have any tax to pay.