Savings interest > £10,000

LeafGreen

I’ve been working out roughly what my total taxable interest for 2024-25 will be, and surprisingly I think it might be over £10K.  Last year it was about £6K but I must have had more accounts maturing this year that pay interest annually.

Anyway, I’m aware that I will need to start completing a tax return.  I don’t really have any idea how to do that at the moment but my question is do I do this off my own back, or will HMRC get in touch to say that I need to do it?.  And what are the timescales likely to be for all this to happen?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

LeafGreen said:

I’ve been working out roughly what my total taxable interest for 2024-25 will be, and surprisingly I think it might be over £10K.  Last year it was about £6K but I must have had more accounts maturing this year that pay interest annually.

Anyway, I’m aware that I will need to start completing a tax return.  I don’t really have any idea how to do that at the moment but my question is do I do this off my own back, or will HMRC get in touch to say that I need to do it?.  And what are the timescales likely to be for all this to happen?

The onus is on you to register and complete the return once HMRC have notified you of your Unique Taxpayer Reference and issued a notice to file a return.

You don't have to register until October but there is nothing to be gained by waiting until then.

Any tax owed needs to be paid by 31 January 2026.

Bigwheels1111

I went over 10k last year, so needed to file a return this year.
I wanted to jump start the process, so I called them and stated I had over 10k interest.
I was told I needed to file and a letter confirming this arrived in 3 days.

It is quite easy to do the return, hardest thing was to get registered and online access.
The form itself, Starts out with the basics, Name address, DOB, Ni number, employed, self employed etc.
Earnings, pension, benefits.
Fill out the boxes they apply to yourself.
Then untaxed interest box.
Thats it.
Only took me 20 minutes max.

wmb194

LeafGreen said:

I’ve been working out roughly what my total taxable interest for 2024-25 will be, and surprisingly I think it might be over £10K.  Last year it was about £6K but I must have had more accounts maturing this year that pay interest annually.

Anyway, I’m aware that I will need to start completing a tax return.  I don’t really have any idea how to do that at the moment but my question is do I do this off my own back, or will HMRC get in touch to say that I need to do it?.  And what are the timescales likely to be for all this to happen?

The path of least anxiety might be to sign up for SA but you don't have to, you can wait to find out what HMRC wants you to do: see threads and link below.

If your affairs are simple HMRC might do the 'usual' thing after it's received the data from the banks and BS' ie. either collect the tax via PAYE or give you the option to pay in a lump sum. The OP in this thread said they earned £11k in interest and HMRC offered the PAYE or lump sum routes and there was no demand for a SA: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6577007/self-assessment-query/p1

Where have you earned the interest, though? If it's via an intermediary like Raisin it appears that it isn't reporting the interest correctly or at all to HMRC.

https://www.procedure.tax/1-duty-to-submit-a-direct-tax-retur

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6511830/self-assessment-query-regarding-over-10k-savings-interest

LeafGreen

Thank you so much for those replies - all very interesting and useful.  
Interest has been earned with a variety of regular easy access and fixed rate savings accounts - I haven't used any intermediaries.
My tax code has already recently been reduced quite drastically (now 28LX - just £280 tax-free amount) so can't be reduced much further!!

Dazed_and_C0nfused

LeafGreen said:

Thank you so much for those replies - all very interesting and useful.  
Interest has been earned with a variety of regular easy access and fixed rate savings accounts - I haven't used any intermediaries.
My tax code has already recently been reduced quite drastically (now 28LX - just £280 tax-free amount) so can't be reduced much further!!

It can, you can have a K (negative) tax code where your employer or pension payer adds a notional amount to your income and then calculated the tax to be deducted.

Bobblehat

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

LeafGreen said:

Thank you so much for those replies - all very interesting and useful.  
Interest has been earned with a variety of regular easy access and fixed rate savings accounts - I haven't used any intermediaries.
My tax code has already recently been reduced quite drastically (now 28LX - just £280 tax-free amount) so can't be reduced much further!!

It can, you can have a K (negative) tax code where your employer or pension payer adds a notional amount to your income and then calculated the tax to be deducted.

I know!