Dreaded Self Assessment. First time.

MikMikandThriceMik

Hi all,
I retired earlier this year at age 58 on the 31/05/2024.
I have taken my 25% lump sum after my 59th birthday 31/06/2024.
I have taken a small amount from the 75% taxed pension.
I have a DB very small pension which is also received and received a tax free lump sum from it a few years back. 
I received a gift of £2000 from a family member a few months back.
I have a cash ISA where I take the interest from it every month.
I have a savings account where I take the interest from it every month.

In the HMRC App for asking if I need to fill in a Self assessment, Q7 asks this:
Check if you need to send a Self Assessment tax return

7. Do you need to pay tax on any of the following?

£2,500 or more from additional income

My question. What do they mean by additional income?

Thank you.

eskbanker

MikMikandThriceMik said:

My question. What do they mean by additional income?

Check if you need to tell HMRC about additional income

Check if you need to tell HMRC about income that’s not from your employer, or not already included in your Self Assessment if you work for yourself.

This may include money you earn from things like:

• selling things, for example at car boot sales or auctions, or online
• doing casual jobs such as gardening, food delivery or babysitting
• charging other people for using your equipment or tools
• renting out property or part of your home, including for holidays (for example, through an agency or online)
• creating content online, for example on social media

https://www.gov.uk/check-additional-income-tax

Brie

Don't know the answer but I do know it's not referring to receiving a gift from someone.  A gift is a gift and not income in the tax sense.  If they gave you ££ to cut the grass or sort the garage lighting or whatever then it would be income.  

The tax free lump sums wouldn't be taxable obviously.  The small amount taken from the taxed pension was likely taxed at source.  Interest above a certain limit needs to be reported and then taxed.  I'd check how much you took and what the limit is as perhaps that's what's being referred to.

[Deleted User]

MikMikandThriceMik said:

Hi all,
I retired earlier this year at age 58 on the 31/05/2024.
I have taken my 25% lump sum after my 59th birthday 31/06/2024.
I have taken a small amount from the 75% taxed pension.
I have a DB very small pension which is also received and received a tax free lump sum from it a few years back. 
I received a gift of £2000 from a family member a few months back.
I have a cash ISA where I take the interest from it every month.
I have a savings account where I take the interest from it every month.

In the HMRC App for asking if I need to fill in a Self assessment, Q7 asks this:
Check if you need to send a Self Assessment tax return

7. Do you need to pay tax on any of the following?

£2,500 or more from additional income

My question. What do they mean by additional income?

Thank you.

In summary - you don’t need to prepare a tax return. 

Bit worried about your date of birth though! 🤔

MikMikandThriceMik

Thanks everyone.
The thing is, and I didn't want to bore you with a whole load of details in my initial post...
I phoned HMRC and told them the exact same except did not mention the gift, and the HMRC person told me I needed to register for self assessment, and so I did that.
A few days later I saw the questions about needing to fill in a Self assessment and going through those answering al the questions including NOT saying I had £2500 or anything else for Q7, and the online answer was that I did not need to fill in a Self assessment, so sonething/someone is wrong.

I know myself that I have not 'earned' and will not 'earn' over £12570 in the 24/25 tax year since I have taken money from the 25% tax free lump sum to pay most of my bills. So no way should I owe any tax.

Also the darned HMRC app does not show my wages or P45 under the PAYE section and only shows my pensions, but my PAYE history on the same app shows my wages until 31/05/24 AND my pensions. Bloody confusing.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

MikMikandThriceMik said:

Thanks everyone.
The thing is, and I didn't want to bore you with a whole load of details in my initial post...
I phoned HMRC and told them the exact same except did not mention the gift, and the HMRC person told me I needed to register for self assessment, and so I did that.
A few days later I saw the questions about needing to fill in a Self assessment and going through those answering al the questions including NOT saying I had £2500 or anything else for Q7, and the online answer was that I did not need to fill in a Self assessment, so sonething/someone is wrong.

I know myself that I have not 'earned' and will not 'earn' over £12570 in the 24/25 tax year since I have taken money from the 25% tax free lump sum to pay most of my bills. So no way should I owe any tax.

Also the darned HMRC app does not show my wages or P45 under the PAYE section and only shows my pensions, but my PAYE history on the same app shows my wages until 31/05/24 AND my pensions. Bloody confusing.

To be honest your posts are quite confusing, you are referring to several things that are completely irrelevant for tax purposes.

Have you or have you not registered for Self Assessment?

If you have which tax year have you registered for?  

If you have why are checking the criteria again.

Pensions are a PAYE source of income, pension payers tax them in pretty much the same way as an employer does.

If you are looking for your 2023-24 income details (from an employment or pension) have you looked at the Other tax years or employment history section?

Notepad_Phil

MikMikandThriceMik said:

Thanks everyone.
The thing is, and I didn't want to bore you with a whole load of details in my initial post...
I phoned HMRC and told them the exact same except did not mention the gift, and the HMRC person told me I needed to register for self assessment, and so I did that.
...

You've not mentioned how much interest you are receiving from your non-ISA savings, but assuming they are less than £10,000 then in your shoes I would ring the HMRC again and ask what specific aspect of your income requires that a self assessment is done.

MikMikandThriceMik

I will ring them again tomorrow.

Thanks again.

sheramber

You say you take small amounts but how much is a small amount?

Your income for 24/25 is the total of  your wages up to 31/6/24 plus the two ‘small’amounts of taxable pension plus the amount of taxable interest you have taken from your savings account. 

Quoting actual figures will get you a straightforward answer . 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

sheramber said:

You say you take small amounts but how much is a small amount?

Your income for 24/25 is the total of  your wages up to 31/6/24 plus the two ‘small’amounts of taxable pension plus the amount of taxable interest you have taken from your savings account. 

Quoting actual figures will get you a straightforward answer . 

I suspect part of the problem here is the op is using something currently set up for a different tax year i.e. should people complete a return for 2023-24.

The second question (starting from the HMRC App) is this,

Check how to register for Self Assessment

2. Did you send a tax return last year?

The last tax year started on 6 April 2022 and ended on 5 April 2023.

Presumably it will move forward a year on 6 April 2025.