Historical debt with HMRC

bbl_2

Hello all. 
First of all apologies if this is not the right area, wasn't sure where to post this query. Haven't been on the forum for over 10 years! 
To cut a story short...

Approximately 9 years ago i registered as self employed. When filing my return the first did not reach HMRC via post. sent again and didn't hear anything again for quite some time. (was new to filing and pretty clueless). A year or so later i received late payment requests for several hundred pounds and admittedly i buried my head with it. Did not make any attempts to contact or resolve it. Suffering severe depression with several family bereavements in a short period i buried my head from pretty much everything. The following couple of years the fines were in the thousands and i continued to ignore them. Haven't heard anything from it for last 3-4 years. 

Today i had to ring HMRC due to an identified deduction to my Universal credit payment. UC advised that i was deducted over £500 this month due to my earning from my employer. This however is incorrect as i haven't had an employer since November. HMRC confirmed nothing reported to them since November so the information UC is using is incorrect despite using same system. UC is investigating. 

Whilst on the phone with HMRC i asked if i could speak to someone about the monies owed to at least try to understand it better. When speaking to an adviser they stated that the only outstanding debt is £13.45 from the year 2011/12. I said that i believed i owed more and he advised that there is 2 charges of £300 for late penalties but they will not be pursuing them at this time unless circumstances change. I asked what circumstances would warrant a change to avoid any later surprises and he wouldn't advise any specifics and said only outstanding debt is £13.45 previously stated. He confirmed this is the only period i was self employed for which is correct. 

For years i have buried my head and increasingly got worse with my mental health as a result of my historical ignorance / anxiety. This is an unreal relief to me as i feel i could progress with my life without falling victim (due to my own fault) to surprise large amounts of money owed.

Is there any way i can check this information. Perhaps with the use of an accountant?

Many thanks. 

sourcrates

Hi,

Well you have already heard what the organ grinder had to say, why now ask his monkey ?

HMRC can look into tax issues that occured up to 20 years ago for serious tax evasion issues, but more commonly, they only go back as far as 6 years, in line with the limitation act, although that does not apply to unpaid income tax.

So if they say they don`t want it, i for one would not start an argument about it.

bbl_2

Thank you for your reply. I'm just in disbelief to be honest. On the last letter i can remember fine were around 7K mark. Just cant see how it is disappeared. Just don't want to be caught out by any sort of oversight in the future considering the amount of time my health has been affected by the whole situation. 

runforlife

If you need peace of mind then all calls are recorded and it’ll be on their system for many years to come. Clearly the agent said the only debt was £13. It’s possible to ask for a Subject Access Request and obtain a copy of the recording but that’s a bit belt and braces. We had a complaint to HMRC and accessed recordings of original phone call from years before which helped our case,

bbl_2

runforlife said:

If you need peace of mind then all calls are recorded and it’ll be on their system for many years to come. Clearly the agent said the only debt was £13. It’s possible to ask for a Subject Access Request and obtain a copy of the recording but that’s a bit belt and braces. We had a complaint to HMRC and accessed recordings of original phone call from years before which helped our case,

Thank you.

monetxchange

Great advice above. Just think of this as a weight off your shoulders as you move forward. Absolutely no need to spend hundreds and hundreds on an accountant!