Self Assessment Query Regarding over £10k Savings Interest

Middle_of_the_Road

spider42 said:

Ignore HMRC's "guidance" that you must register for Self Assessment if your interest is more than £10k. This is completely false. HMRC's website is factually incorrect and has no basis in law whatsoever (as has often been pointed out by judges in tax tribunals). There is no legal obligation for you (or indeed anybody else) to register for Self Assessment. Your only legal obligations are to notify HMRC if you owe them some tax, or to file a tax return if they issue you with a notice under Section 8 TMA 1970 asking you to complete one.

If your only income is interest, and it is under £18,570 (or £17,340 if you've done a Marriage Allowance transfer), then generally you won't owe any tax (unless you've done something else to create a liability, e.g. Gift Aid donations).

If you have no tax liability, then you are under no obligation to take any action yourself, despite what the HMRC website will incorrectly tell you. You are only required to file a return if HMRC have issued a notice under Section 8 TMA1970 to do so. It would be a waste of yours (and HMRC's) time to register yourself for Self Assessment where no tax is due.

Sounds logical, wonder why no-one else has mentioned it on here...

Swipe

Maybe they should clarify this on their website then

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Middle_of_the_Road said:

spider42 said:

Ignore HMRC's "guidance" that you must register for Self Assessment if your interest is more than £10k. This is completely false. HMRC's website is factually incorrect and has no basis in law whatsoever (as has often been pointed out by judges in tax tribunals). There is no legal obligation for you (or indeed anybody else) to register for Self Assessment. Your only legal obligations are to notify HMRC if you owe them some tax, or to file a tax return if they issue you with a notice under Section 8 TMA 1970 asking you to complete one.

If your only income is interest, and it is under £18,570 (or £17,340 if you've done a Marriage Allowance transfer), then generally you won't owe any tax (unless you've done something else to create a liability, e.g. Gift Aid donations).

If you have no tax liability, then you are under no obligation to take any action yourself, despite what the HMRC website will incorrectly tell you. You are only required to file a return if HMRC have issued a notice under Section 8 TMA1970 to do so. It would be a waste of yours (and HMRC's) time to register yourself for Self Assessment where no tax is due.

Sounds logical, wonder why no-one else has mentioned it on here...

It has been a while back I think but most people just go with what is published on gov.uk, they don't delve into the legislation or have that level of knowledge.

Penalties in particular is one area people make totally incorrect assumptions, simply from the publicity they get each January.

But you cannot be fined for not filing a return you haven't been asked to file!

mostilts

I have accrued about £250k within my cash ISA wrapper earning around 4.7%. Using these figures my tax free interest is £11,750 a year, which is over the £10,000 interest threshold that the .gov website states as a reason for requiring to complete a Self Assessment return. The website doesn’t indicate that if it’s within an ISA then a SA is not required. Required or not anybody?

JulieGil

mostilts said:

I have accrued about £250k within my cash ISA wrapper earning around 4.7%. Using these figures my tax free interest is £11,750 a year, which is over the £10,000 interest threshold that the .gov website states as a reason for requiring to complete a Self Assessment return. The website doesn’t indicate that if it’s within an ISA then a SA is not required. Required or not anybody?

You do not have to SA interest within an ISA as all the interest is tax free.

JulieGil

spider42 said:

Ignore HMRC's "guidance" that you must register for Self Assessment if your interest is more than £10k. This is completely false. HMRC's website is factually incorrect and has no basis in law whatsoever (as has often been pointed out by judges in tax tribunals). There is no legal obligation for you (or indeed anybody else) to register for Self Assessment. Your only legal obligations are to notify HMRC if you owe them some tax, or to file a tax return if they issue you with a notice under Section 8 TMA 1970 asking you to complete one.

If your only income is interest, and it is under £18,570 (or £17,340 if you've done a Marriage Allowance transfer), then generally you won't owe any tax (unless you've done something else to create a liability, e.g. Gift Aid donations).

If you have no tax liability, then you are under no obligation to take any action yourself, despite what the HMRC website will incorrectly tell you. You are only required to file a return if HMRC have issued a notice under Section 8 TMA1970 to do so. It would be a waste of yours (and HMRC's) time to register yourself for Self Assessment where no tax is due.

Thank you for this advice. It makes sense as when my husband's salary exceeded 50K and he had to repay Child Benefit it was HMRC that notified him to self assess, there was no fine.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

mostilts said:

I have accrued about £250k within my cash ISA wrapper earning around 4.7%. Using these figures my tax free interest is £11,750 a year, which is over the £10,000 interest threshold that the .gov website states as a reason for requiring to complete a Self Assessment return. The website doesn’t indicate that if it’s within an ISA then a SA is not required. Required or not anybody?

Interest from a cash ISA is exempt from tax and not relevant to completion of a tax return.