Personal savings allowance

youngretired

Has anyone not had HMRC notified of their interest earned in 2016-17 and 2017-18?

My husband found out today when he contacted HMRC that they had no record for either years of any interest that he has earned. HMRC confirmed that Yes banks/building societies should be telling them.

He has contacted his banks/building societies and at the moment 4 (Lloyds, TSB, BOS and Tesco) have confirmed that no they don't tell HMRC and it is the customers responsibility. He is still awaiting a response from HSBC, M&S, 1st Direct, Nationwide and Kent Reliance.

He now has to advice HMRC himself of the interest earned as he knows that he owes some tax. He already knew that he had to advice on joint accounts but was just awaiting confirmation from HMRC what they had already been told.

masonic

It is the taxpayer's responsibility to inform HMRC of any untaxed interest if there may be a tax liability. I was under the impression that the banks did so by return now that they have stopped deducting tax at source, so I'm a little surprised your husband has been informed otherwise.

I've been declaring mine and have no idea what information HMRC has been getting from elsewhere.

Terry_Towelling

Do the banks/building societies have enough information to be able to report the interest we earn to HMRC? Wouldn't they need our NI Numbers? Some banks have asked me for mine when opening a savings account but not all. Without wishing to wade through the T&Cs of all the banks accounts I hold, shouldn't there be something in them that says the bank will use our personal data to report to HMRC?

masonic

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Do the banks/building societies have enough information to be able to report the interest we earn to HMRC? Wouldn't they need our NI Numbers? Some banks have asked me for mine when opening a savings account but not all. Without wishing to wade through the T&Cs of all the banks accounts I hold, shouldn't there be something in them that says the bank will use our personal data to report to HMRC?

It's a good question regarding NI numbers - it seems they would be rather helpful.

T&C state that the company will share information if it is required of them by law. This avoids them having to detail every particular instance of information sharing.

Edit: Just picking one at random, here's what they say:
https://www.lloydsbank.com/privacy.asp#13
"Who we share your personal information with
We may share your personal information with outside organisations such as credit card providers, insurers or tax authorities. This is so that we can provide you with products and services, run our business, and obey rules that apply to us. Here we list all the types of organisation that we may share your personal information with.

Lloyds Banking Group
We may share your personal information with other companies in Lloyds Banking Group.

Authorities
This means official bodies that include:

Central and local government
HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other tax authorities
UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme and other deposit guarantee schemes
Law enforcement and fraud prevention agencies.
..."

Terry_Towelling

Thanks for finding that. I have created a personal tax account with HMRC which shows my income details but never showed my Carer's Allowance until I told them about it (and then they put the wrong amount in!) and never shows any interest income. I am way under the level at which tax would be payable but I thought it might be there.

masonic

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Thanks for finding that. I have created a personal tax account with HMRC which shows my income details but never showed my Carer's Allowance until I told them about it (and then they put the wrong amount in!) and never shows any interest income. I am way under the level at which tax would be payable but I thought it might be there.

What's written in the personal tax account is just a guesstimate until they get around to updating it. For the 2017/18 tax year, they won't generate a calculated figure until Sep/Oct and this may or may not include information from the banks this year... we'll see. Previously I've contacted HMRC early because I was due a refund. This year, I'll owe them tax, so I'm leaving it as late as possible and will see if the figure they arrive at is anywhere near the truth.

Tom99

masonic wrote: »

It is the taxpayer's responsibility to inform HMRC of any untaxed interest if there may be a tax liability. I was under the impression that the banks did so by return now that they have stopped deducting tax at source, so I'm a little surprised your husband has been informed otherwise.

I've been declaring mine and have no idea what information HMRC has been getting from elsewhere.

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]HMRC say they following re duty to report interest received:[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If your not employed, do not get a pension or do not complete Self-Assessment, your bank or building society will tell HMRC how much interest you received at the end of the year. HMRC will tell you if you need to pay tax and how to pay it.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If the interest you received was £10,000 or more, you need to complete a Self-Assessment tax return.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]So if you get less than £10,000pa and don't complete a SA, just sit back and see what happens. I can't see how HMRC would fine you in later years if you do nothing based on their own advise.[/FONT]

eskbanker

Tom99 wrote: »

If your not employed

Is that really a straight copy/paste from an HMRC page?!

I would of expected better on there website's....

mije1983

eskbanker wrote: »

Is that really a straight copy/paste from an HMRC page?!

I would of expected better on there website's....

I had to check out of curiosity. It is grammatically correct on the HMRC page


https://www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings

Tom99

eskbanker wrote: »

Is that really a straight copy/paste from an HMRC page?!

I would of expected better on there website's....

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]No its not. The Government website can cope with an apostrophe but this website cannot![/FONT]

Dazed_and_confused

He has contacted his banks/building societies and at the moment 4 (Lloyds, TSB, BOS and Tesco) have confirmed that no they don't tell HMRC and it is the customers responsibility. He is still awaiting a response from HSBC, M&S, 1st Direct, Nationwide and Kent Reliance.

Whoever he contacted in those 4 banks needs some training. Banks have been obliged to report this information for donkeys years and nothing has changed in this respect in recent times.

Gov.uk has detailed information about this https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/type-17-and-18-bank-building-society-interest-and-other-interest-returns-of-interest-and-eusd/bank-and-building-society-bbsi-european-union-savings-directive-eusd-and-other-oi-returns-of-interest

As others have pointed out banks are not required to obtain National Insurance numbers for normal bank accounts (but do seem to be for non taxable ISA's!) so quite how easy it is for HMRC to match everything up to individual tax records is another matter.