Correcting last year's tax return. Double taxed on foreign income.

unhinged

Hello -this is a two pronged query. My son's 22-23 self assessment was done by a tax advisor -he will be doing it on his own this year as he has gone a back to uni. He has been double taxed on income in France and UK. He would like to get this corrected but can't do it online through self assessment as the return was done by a tax advisor.. how does he submit amendment in paper format and what forms would he need to use? Not entirely sure on HMRC web pages how to deal with the situation and can't get through on phone. Thanks in advance.

Phoenix72

Are you confident enough on residence/non-residence and DTA treaties to do it correctly?

Maybe give some more info so people can advise. Type of income etc

[Deleted User]

unhinged said:

Hello -this is a two pronged query. My son's 22-23 self assessment was done by a tax advisor -he will be doing it on his own this year as he has gone a back to uni. He has been double taxed on income in France and UK. He would like to get this corrected but can't do it online through self assessment as the return was done by a tax advisor.. how does he submit amendment in paper format and what forms would he need to use? Not entirely sure on HMRC web pages how to deal with the situation and can't get through on phone. Thanks in advance.

Can you not go back to the tax advisor and ask to make the amendment if, for some reason, they have not claimed DTR?

Please ensure that you are familiar with the rules in claiming if you attempt to do this yourself e.g. relief is only available at the lower of foreign tax paid and U.K. tax due specifically on that source of income. If the French liability is higher no repayment is due. This is, of course, not withstanding the points made above with regard to residency. 

unhinged

Would the tax advisor not want further payment to do so?

mybestattempt

I agree, before amending a return be certain the amendment is correct.

If the tax advisor accepts they got the return wrong, I would be inclined to suggest to them that they do the remedial work at no extra cost.

But I'm curious here; why can't a return filed (presumably online) by a tax advisor (on behalf of a taxpayer) be amended online (within the time allowed) by the taxpayer him/herself?

unhinged

I have no idea why - it simply says as the return wasn't filed through self assessment online amendments need to be done on paper. HMRC support on Twitter/X confirmed this. Seems silly.

Bookworm105

mybestattempt said:

But I'm curious here; why can't a return filed a tax advisor on behalf of a taxpayer be amended (within the time allowed) online by the taxpayer him/herself?

possibly because it would have been submitted through the agents' own software and therefore is not accessible to the taxpayer in a format that allows editing as it is on the accountant's govt gateway account, not the taxpayer's gateway account

[Deleted User]

Bookworm105 said:

mybestattempt said:

But I'm curious here; why can't a return filed a tax advisor on behalf of a taxpayer be amended (within the time allowed) online by the taxpayer him/herself?

possibly because it would have been submitted through the agents' own software and therefore is not accessible to the taxpayer in a format that allows editing as it is on the accountant's govt gateway account, not the taxpayer's gateway account

Exactly this. I would be interested to know how the op is certain that DTR has not been claimed. 

eskbanker

unhinged said:

My son's 22-23 self assessment was done by a tax advisor -he will be doing it on his own this year as he has gone a back to uni. He has been double taxed on income in France and UK. He would like to get this corrected but can't do it online through self assessment as the return was done by a tax advisor..

What is it that convinces him (or you) that he (or you) knows better than the tax advisor?  If there's some reliable and authoritative source that definitively contradicts what the tax advisor has done then this ought to be handled as a complaint against the advisor....

nigelbb

What income do you think has been double taxed in both France & the UK? How is it that he has paid tax in both UK & France? Normally income from employment is taxable in the country where the work was undertaken. Has he completed a French tax return?

We just need much more information before we can advise you. It must be vey unusual for a university student to be required to submit a self assessment tax return.

[Deleted User]

nigelbb said:

What income do you think has been double taxed in both France & the UK? How is it that he has paid tax in both UK & France? Normally income from employment is taxable in the country where the work was undertaken. Has he completed a French tax return?

We just need much more information before we can advise you. It must be vey unusual for a university student to be required to submit a self assessment tax return.

It ‘seems’ that the French income was declared on a U.K. return and, perhaps, DTR not claimed. 

But, as you say, we don’t know for sure.