HMRC Letter says I owe tax, website says I don't...

Pelo4Life

Hello, wondering if anyone else has had this...

A month ago I received a Simple Assessment from HMRC, saying I owed them just over £4k. I called them up to discuss as I didn't think that was right, but they told me it was. I have until January '23 to pay.

I've gone online today to make the payment, but when I logged in to Simple Assessment through HMRC website the website says I am all up to date.

Either the letter is wrong, or the website is wrong. I am trying to call HMRC to clarify, but can't until Monday.

Any advice / similar experiences welcome!

Thanks

Dazed_and_C0nfused

It could just be the second bullet here applies - maybe this means you do owe £4k but it's just been overwritten?

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/paye-manual/paye96320

But that is probably immaterial. 

Just because HMRC say £4k owed was correct doesn't mean it is. 

That is a fairly large amount to owe under PAYE.  What was the reason for owing that much?  Are you satisfied the figures are correct?

If they are you have managed to get an interest free loan from HMRC by not paying tax due for 2021:22 until January 2023, not bad going!

Pelo4Life

Thanks Dazed and Confused! The figures may or may not add up (understanding tax isn't my strong suit) - the reason they're saying it is is because I changed jobs, which I did, and that they didn't charge me properly for that new job (which I don't know whether that's true or not).

I've set aside the cash, and assuming I will have to pay it, but it's just odd that the system I log into to make the payment won't let me make the payment. Especially when it shows all the same tax details as the letter, and says the account is balanced.

sheramber

Have you checked yo0r statement of account?

it may be that because the payment is not due until January 23 your account is considered up to date at present.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

I'm not sure there is statement of account for PAYE like there is with Self Assessment.

I suspect the issue is this.

If a year reconciled as Simple Assessment is re-reconciled and no amendments have been made to the record or the underpayment amount has not changed, the result will be shown on the Reconciliation summary and details as ‘Reconciled-Balanced’ however, the customer will still be underpaid and the charge on ETMP will not change.

AlwaysLearnin

My mum had something similar last year. 

She received a simple assessment stating she owed an amount in the high hundreds due to savings interest in the previous tax year.  She requested a breakdown of the interest amount that they had used, as it seemed rather high.  She got twitchy when the breakdown still hadn't been received when nearing the deadline for payment, so logged on to her online tax account, only to be shown that the correct tax had been paid for the year in question, and having no option to make the payment requested.  She took screen shots to prove what she had seen and that she couldn't make the payment, and didn't do anything else relating to it.  She eventually got the breakdown, but heard nothing else regarding the amount apparently due.  

Dazed_and_C0nfused

AlwaysLearnin said:

My mum had something similar last year. 

She received a simple assessment stating she owed an amount in the high hundreds due to savings interest in the previous tax year.  She requested a breakdown of the interest amount that they had used, as it seemed rather high.  She got twitchy when the breakdown still hadn't been received when nearing the deadline for payment, so logged on to her online tax account, only to be shown that the correct tax had been paid for the year in question, and having no option to make the payment requested.  She took screen shots to prove what she had seen and that she couldn't make the payment, and didn't do anything else relating to it.  She eventually got the breakdown, but heard nothing else regarding the amount apparently due.  

So without a revised Simple Assessment calculation it's still owed.  Just HMRC haven't pursued it yet.

Which admittedly is a bit odd.  Although according to LITRG they don't charge interest or penalties so maybe they are just slow chasing things up?

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/tax-basics/what-simple-assessment#toc-do-hmrc-charge-interest-and-or-penalties-on-simple-assessments-

AlwaysLearnin

Yes.  We decided to wait and see what else they might eventually send.

Pelo4Life

AlwaysLearnin said:

Yes.  We decided to wait and see what else they might eventually send.

This is really interesting! How did that play out in the end? Did they eventually chase and want the money?

AlwaysLearnin

She hasn't heard anything more on it to date.  We're waiting to see what her P800 says.

Pelo4Life

Just to close this loop: I called HMRC again to ask, and they said it doesn’t show on the website because It isn’t yet overdue - I.e owed. From 1st Feb it would be showing on the website as overdue.

Ultimately, I still needed to pay it!