Savings interest tax question

butterflymum

BASmith wrote: »

I've never completed a tax return. I'm PAYE.
As I haven't heard from HMRC maybe they did adjust my tax code to capture the additional tax. Like you say the banks and building societies will have told them about my accounts

Even if you were PAYE, you still needed to let HMRC know about any taxable income you received that you hadn't paid tax/full tax on, such as savings interest earned that you had only paid 20% tax on. You could have done this by phone or letter. The onus was on you, unfortunately.

In addition, and of concern, you said earlier " Yes I was definitely over the higher rate tax band for the last 7 years and yes I am affected by the child benefit charge", which would suggest to me that despite being PAYE, you would have needed to also submit a Self Assessment Tax Return by virtue of being 'affected by the child benefit charge'. Unless, perhaps, your partner has an income of over £50,000 which is also higher than your income, and so they complete the Self Assessment re the Child Benefit charge. Or, maybe you meant you/your partner chose not to receive child benefit at all, so as to avoid the need for Self Assessment due to it (even if this was the case, you would still have been obliged to tell HMRC about the savings interest you had only paid 20% on).

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge/pay-the-charge

Again, if you did actually choose to continue receiving child benefit, the onus would have been on you, or your partner if higher earner, to register and submit a Self Assessment, even if already PAYE.

alanq

Presumably each year you have been sent statements showing how your PAYE code has been calculated. What do they say?