Interest received

RG2015

I wrote to HMRC last year giving details of interest received in 2016/17 and 2017/18. In each tax year I received less than £1,000 so as a basic rate taxpayer I have no income tax liability.

On my personal tax account online the 17/18 figure has been used as an estimate for my 18/19 interest income. A few days ago I noticed that my online account shows the interest received on each of my savings accounts. Only one with about £5 is missing and this is shown as a dummy account to bring the total back to my actual figure.

However, whilst the total is quite close to my expected total my actual accounts and amounts for 2018/19 are quite different. The narrative says that I should advise them of any differences but if I had not seen this I would not have known they wanted this.

I am happy that I have advised them of my actual total figures and also that I expected 2018/2019 to be similar. I believe that telling them of the actual breakdown would only complicate the issue so I am going to wait until April when I will write to them with the actual total figure.

It does appear to me that the whole treatment of income tax on interest received is still not being managed very well within the online personal tax accounts system.

Dazed_and_confused

I wonder if they really meant something more along the lines of "advise us if the total is going to be (significantly?) different".

It would seem to be a waste of everyone's time to tell them about individual account differences/changes if the total is going to be broadly the same as it is only the total which really matters.

In each tax year I received less than £1,000 so as a basic rate taxpayer I have no income tax liability

That might be true for you, and indeed the vast majority of people, but some basic rate payers do have extra tax to pay even if the interest itself is taxed at 0%

RG2015

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

I wonder if they really meant something more along the lines of "advise us if the total is going to be (significantly?) different".

It would seem to be a waste of everyone's time to tell them about individual account differences/changes if the total is going to be broadly the same as it is only the total which really matters.

Yes. I think HMRC have a duty to check their website so that the public do not need the second guess what they really mean.

People have reported on another thread (link below) that they have updated their details but that the website has come up with an error. I know that it is a Beta site but it has been for many months. Simply calling it a Beta site should not absolve HMRC of their responsibilities.

That said, I do find the website very useful as long as users are aware of its occasional poor wording.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5947607/interest-details-on-hmrc-personal-tax-account-updated-to-include-how-to-access-interest-details