Travelling On

Karmacat

That's good to know, Watty - and yes, I'd never choose cash to pay with nowadays - the only exception would be having lots of pound coins, because about 50% of the car parks my sister and I used on our AirBNB holidays this year used apps to pay, and the other half used pound coins.  That might change next year, of course.

Terrible sleep last night - I gave up at one stage, and worked out my French figures for my English tax.  Then I sorted the postcards (as opposed to cards) - American, Canadian, European, Turkish, British, political.  Then went a walk this morning, after I finally managed to stagger out of bed, and I'll try to do another one later this afternoon.  Plus I'll input those French figures.

Slight diversion, in a way: Ancestry are doing free worldwide birth, marriage and death records until 31st December (with them it usually means *including* 31st December).  It'll be a nice chance to check things through - my Rhodesian/Zimbabwean cousins, for example, but they might be blocked yet, 1950s/1960s is recent in genealogical terms after all!

Karmacat

Good morning campers!  Yes, it's still my morning, at 12.50, so that's the greeting I give     Sleep deficit was addressed, French tax figures input into English form (though I've currently entered the French tax twice, tricky). 

Also tricky with a dormant account I brought back to life so I could close it, cahoot.  I know they paid me interest, and I just can't find the paperwork.  I eventually received £228, so I'm going to pretend that the interest was about £8.  Doesn't make any difference, I'm still under the taxable threshold. 

I'm definitely going to do some work on staying under the taxable threshold: on one website, I read that the Personal Allowance is frozen for 5 years - because of the combination of state pension plus non-ISA savings mostly in Regular Savers, and the French rental income, I'll start to be near the tax threshold fairly soon.  And I just don't feel well off enough for that, even though by definition I would be.  So it goes.  The most important thing financially for the next few days is to get the figures finalised, check through the errors, and get it ready to submit, even if I don't fully submit it.    

badmemory

Does your personal tax account not give figures for how much interest you've earned?  I know they get notified of mine.  I am on simple assessment now though not self assessment & we have a discussion nearly every year because they have my state pension wrong - because the DWP notify them of the wrong figures. I should have an interesting year at the end of this tax year as for me it is a 53 week year, I think it may be time to play dumb.  They haven't told me how much I owe for 20-21 year yet, so that isn't payable until at least March.  Self assessment was so much easier!

Karmacat

badmemory said:

Does your personal tax account not give figures for how much interest you've earned?  I know they get notified of mine.
No, badmemory, they don't - I mean, every Regular Saver I open, every easy access account I open (I made a mistake and opened two at Virgin Money, that was fun, I tell you ) ... it's me that has to collate that stuff.  They also want me to tell them how much state pension I got, which I think is a bit weird, personally - it's a government department that sent it to me, after all.  The info is there in my downloaded bank statements, so I can find it easily enough, it's just odd.

I am on simple assessment now though not self assessment & we have a discussion nearly every year because they have my state pension wrong - because the DWP notify them of the wrong figures. I should have an interesting year at the end of this tax year as for me it is a 53 week year, I think it may be time to play dumb.  They haven't told me how much I owe for 20-21 year yet, so that isn't payable until at least March.  Self assessment was so much easier!

Oh, DWP really are bonkers, then!  Sorry they're troubling you to that extent.  I'd not heard of simple assessment - mine is never going to go that route, I don't think, because of the dratted French apartment.  53 weeks should be fun!

Karmacat

No tax work done today - phoned sister, had a walk, and started to pack for my petsitting visit.  There's a lot!  I think I'm going to have to take the big luggage I bought to go on the cruises, not just my little weekend case.  My own towels, food, a few hobby things, as well as clothes and personal care - it really adds up!

badmemory

They should have those interest figures as the banks are obliged to supply them.  To reduce your years tax check what date your state pension goes up.  Usually (not always) it goes up on the second week of the tax year.  So you have one week at the old rate & 51 at the new rate.  HMRC work on the amount you would have been paid if you were paid weekly.  And they say tax shouldn't be taxing - it gets worse every year.

Karmacat

badmemory said:

They should have those interest figures as the banks are obliged to supply them.  To reduce your years tax check what date your state pension goes up.  Usually (not always) it goes up on the second week of the tax year.  So you have one week at the old rate & 51 at the new rate.  HMRC work on the amount you would have been paid if you were paid weekly.  And they say tax shouldn't be taxing - it gets worse every year.

Sorry, I meant that hmrc don't have the figures - the banks do, yes, and they supply them to me, and I add them up and tell hmrc.  

I don't pay tax at all, and to declare my state pension income, I was just going to go through the 4 weekly payments on my bank statements - it's literally accurate   It's the future years when the personal allowance is frozen that I'm slightly concerned about - 5 years is a long time for that allowance to be frozen.  What's your situation right now?

And yes, the admin of tax gets worse every year.  Some of it is completely incomprehensible, but I figure as long as I'm honest and include all the bits and bobs, it should be fine.

badmemory

Sorry I wasn't clear.  The banks are obliged to tell HMRC of the amount of interest you've earned, not just you.  I used to be a bookkeeper & I still do a friends books unpaid, it keeps me out of mischief! 

I'm on the old state pension which I deferred for 5 years, which added 52.2% to it.  Then I took it whilst I was still working for over a year which is why I had to start self assessment.  The annoying thing is that if I had started taking my other very small pension at the same time as my state pension I would be getting more than I did taking it at 70 as the annuity rates tanked that year.

Personnally I find it easier filing self assesment than it is checking their figures.  Most people just work on PAYE all their lives & nobody warns you how much worse it gets managing your tax once you retire, when life should get easier.

I'm still waiting for the bill for 19-20 as well as 20-21.  But that is their problem as they told me that even if I file self assessment they will ignore it, so the very earliest it can be due is March.  I suppose I am going to have to try to speak to them but don't feel like bothering.

SuperSecretSquirrel

I file a self assessment each year. This year they told me how much I had earned and how much tax I had paid at each employment. Cross referenced my P60s and it was all correct. I had to supply the amount of NI paid value myself. I also had to manually tell them how much interest I had earned, even though they should have known and could have told me.

I do wonder if them not presenting all they know is a means of catching out liars, or the more innocent people that simply accept the given figures without checking/correcting them. Might just be a crappy system though...

Watty1

I suspect it is just a crappy system.  In  a previous life I used to take an entertained a senior fraud officer for HMRC on jolly trips (he organised a holiday club for his team)  and his insights were entertaining, horrifying and enlightening all at the same time.  The one I remember the most was simply to avoid paying any tax at all or ever be investigated declare yourself a taxi driver in the West Midlands area with an ethic surname. Deed poll name change and voila no tax ever. He swore it would work!