Annual Interest Tax statements - chase for?

Sea_Shell

Do any of you actively chase up all your interest tax statements from your various providers each year?   Or only those of you who need to complete a self-assessment return?

I have my own records of what interest we've earned in any given tax year, and if we receive an annual tax statement i keep it in the folder for that year, and tick it off my own spreadsheet printout.

Due to low rates of late, we're no longer at risk of breaching the £1000 tax free limit again (we have in the past, but whilst still keeping within overall income tax free limits), so doesn't it really not matter if we don't receive all the statements for 20-21.

Is it still a bit early to have had them all in?

I only ask, as we're looking to close down (most of) our TSB accounts, and I've been on and found the tax certificates in documents for some of the accounts, but not all, as if they've not been generated yet.   

masonic

I don't chase them. I'm grateful for those that I receive, but it's a minority of providers that send them these days, so I add up interest paid over the tax year as I go along now so that I'm not dependent on this elusive document! I've been on self assessment for the past few tax years, so do need to report a figure for interest.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Due to low rates of late, we're no longer at risk of breaching the £1000 tax free limit again (we have in the past, but whilst still keeping within overall income tax free limits), so doesn't it really not matter if we don't receive all the statements for 20-21.

Curious as to what you mean by this?

The £1,000 savings nil rate (aka Personal Savings Allowance) can only be used after you have used your Personal Allowance and (if available) savings starter rate band so are you sure you actually meet the criteria to even be able to use the nil rate?

colsten

I don't bother with tax statements. Those that I still receive by snail mail get shredded on arrival, and the online ones remain largely unread. I keep my own, detailed, records (in AceMoney), and double-check the balances of all my accounts that have taxable interest just before I do my SA, which is usually late April or early May. I then just enter the grand total of my taxable interest, without any of the detail. This has always been accepted by the HMRC w/o questions.

IanManc

colsten said:

I don't bother with tax statements. Those that I still receive by snail mail get shredded on arrival, and the online ones remain largely unread. I keep my own, detailed, records (in AceMoney), and double-check the balances of all my accounts that have taxable interest just before I do my SA, which is usually late April or early May. I then just enter the grand total of my taxable interest, without any of the detail. This has always been accepted by the HMRC w/o questions.

I do the same. I've been on self assessment for years, and keep records during the tax year as I go along. On the first day of the new tax year I tot everything up and fill in my tax return online. I don't request tax statements from institutions which don't send them out automatically, and don't check the ones I do receive in the post as I've always done my tax return by the time they come.

Sea_Shell

Thanks everyone.

So basically the chances of ever actually needing them, over and above keeping my own records, is negligible.

What if HMRC make a mistake?

Have any of you had to use them to prove your calculations?

I realise that, personally, we may not even qualify for the tax free band, so was just wondering if I really needed to keep more paper!!   Don't they have "do not destroy" on them...like your P60s?

Yes we've got all them too!!

masonic

Sea_Shell said:

Have any of you had to use them to prove your calculations?

Tax statements provided to consumers do not contain any information that isn't directly shared with HMRC, and I doubt HMRC would accept a paper tax statement as evidence the information directly reported by the institution is incorrect.

kuratowski

Hmm, if HMRC were assessing me for tax on money not shown on my bank statements, I would be fighting them in the tribunal!

Edit: because internet posts do not convey tone of voice, the above is spoken with tongue in cheek

MarkFromCornwall

Sea_Shell said:

Do any of you actively chase up all your interest tax statements from your various providers each year?   Or only those of you who need to complete a self-assessment return?

  

I chase them.  That way, when I've completed my self-assessment return, if HMRC were to query anything I can be sure that I have evidence to show them.  They never have queried anything, but I sleep better knowing that I have that pile of interest statements.

colsten

Sea_Shell said:

Have any of you had to use them to prove your calculations?

Not me. HMRC have accepted my numbers, even when they differed from what was reported by the financial institutions. Though there is now no longer a way, or at least not an easy way, to see what gets reported to the HMRC, I no longer know how my numbers relate to the reported numbers.

As and if HMRC would ever like to query how I arrived at the total interest I report in my SA, I am more than happy to show them the full details of my accounts. I am quite satisfied that they would not find anything untoward as, after all, it would be immensely stupid to try and evade a few pounds of tax that might be due on the minute amount of savings interest we can get these days.

ANGLICANPAT

Sea_Shell said:

Do any of you actively chase up all your interest tax statements from your various providers each year?   Or only those of you who need to complete a self-assessment return?

I have my own records of what interest we've earned in any given tax year, and if we receive an annual tax statement i keep it in the folder for that year, and tick it off my own spreadsheet printout.

Due to low rates of late, we're no longer at risk of breaching the £1000 tax free limit again (we have in the past, but whilst still keeping within overall income tax free limits), so doesn't it really not matter if we don't receive all the statements for 20-21.

Is it still a bit early to have had them all in?

I only ask, as we're looking to close down (most of) our TSB accounts, and I've been on and found the tax certificates in documents for some of the accounts, but not all, as if they've not been generated yet.   

, I closed my account with  TSB  forgetting I'd need to print off tax returns , but  that action removed all online access immediately , so no chance to retrieve anything later . Had to ring to get the figures . Not confident that if Id tried to go back and get figures by tel.  belatedly  eg for a taxman query  , that  they would be  available to me , probably not literally freely, anyway. So Id say with this bank , it might not be standard to kill off your access immediately on closure, I dont know,   but it obviously can  happen , so for the sake of  a quick print off now,  Id do it just in case.