Checking savings interest reported to HMRC

money4sb

I've just looked at my wife's email from HMRC that she just received.  At first I was livid at the amount that HMRC thought she had earned in interest from her savings accounts (for April 24-25).   
However, I then went through all of her accounts and found that HMRC had actually come to a figure that was around 20% less than reality.
She's PAYE and the intererst earned is less than 10K so by HMRC guidelines she's not obliged to fill in a tax return.  This must be a very common circumstance in that HMRC are failing to get ALL of the interest figures automatically from the banks at the moment.

Should we care and only start shouting at them if we think they've OVER calculated?   Is the onus on the person to put their hand up and say.....'I think I still owe you money'  or...........?

eskbanker

money4sb said:

Is the onus on the person to put their hand up and say.....'I think I still owe you money'  or...........?

Yes, it's the taxpayer's responsibility to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid.

Twinsdad1844

I too rang them up after disputing my interest tax calculation and then quickly became embarrassed at my lack of tax saving abilities......

Pat38493

eskbanker said:

money4sb said:

Is the onus on the person to put their hand up and say.....'I think I still owe you money'  or...........?

Yes, it's the taxpayer's responsibility to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid.

From what I have seen HMRC want to have their cake and eat it, and take your cake too.  Last time I looked into this, I found a page on the HMRC website that said that HMRC collect information directly from banks and financial instituations, so there is no need to call them to tell them about the interest.  On the other hand, there are other places on their website that say it's up to the taxpayer to report everything and they will fine you if you don't tell them about income that they are not aware of!

My interpretation of this is that I will wait until late in the year until they appear to have completely finalised the tax position for the previous tax year (for me I have recevied a note from them with a simple tax calculation but my wife has not received this yet).  If there is missing savings inerest or a query at that point I will call them.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

money4sb said:

I've just looked at my wife's email from HMRC that she just received.  At first I was livid at the amount that HMRC thought she had earned in interest from her savings accounts (for April 24-25).   
However, I then went through all of her accounts and found that HMRC had actually come to a figure that was around 20% less than reality.
She's PAYE and the intererst earned is less than 10K so by HMRC guidelines she's not obliged to fill in a tax return.  This must be a very common circumstance in that HMRC are failing to get ALL of the interest figures automatically from the banks at the moment.

Should we care and only start shouting at them if we think they've OVER calculated?   Is the onus on the person to put their hand up and say.....'I think I still owe you money'  or...........?

You might find this quite enlightening.  Especially the bit headed 

The case for mandating third-party data suppliers to request and report tax references

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/better-use-of-new-and-improved-third-party-data/better-use-of-new-and-improved-third-party-data-to-make-it-easier-to-pay-tax-right-first-time

eskbanker

Pat38493 said:

eskbanker said:

money4sb said:

Is the onus on the person to put their hand up and say.....'I think I still owe you money'  or...........?

Yes, it's the taxpayer's responsibility to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid.

From what I have seen HMRC want to have their cake and eat it, and take your cake too.  Last time I looked into this, I found a page on the HMRC website that said that HMRC collect information directly from banks and financial instituations, so there is no need to call them to tell them about the interest.  On the other hand, there are other places on their website that say it's up to the taxpayer to report everything and they will fine you if you don't tell them about income that they are not aware of!

My interpretation of this is that I will wait until late in the year until they appear to have completely finalised the tax position for the previous tax year (for me I have recevied a note from them with a simple tax calculation but my wife has not received this yet).  If there is missing savings inerest or a query at that point I will call them.

The process should allow HMRC to charge an accurate amount of tax based on the submissions from all banks and building societies, without all taxpayers being expected to report interest or to contact them, so the expectation is that the latter is the exception rather than the rule, i.e. just when the assessed tax figure is wrong for whatever reason.

wmb194

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

money4sb said:

I've just looked at my wife's email from HMRC that she just received.  At first I was livid at the amount that HMRC thought she had earned in interest from her savings accounts (for April 24-25).   
However, I then went through all of her accounts and found that HMRC had actually come to a figure that was around 20% less than reality.
She's PAYE and the intererst earned is less than 10K so by HMRC guidelines she's not obliged to fill in a tax return.  This must be a very common circumstance in that HMRC are failing to get ALL of the interest figures automatically from the banks at the moment.

Should we care and only start shouting at them if we think they've OVER calculated?   Is the onus on the person to put their hand up and say.....'I think I still owe you money'  or...........?

You might find this quite enlightening.  Especially the bit headed 

The case for mandating third-party data suppliers to request and report tax references

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/better-use-of-new-and-improved-third-party-data/better-use-of-new-and-improved-third-party-data-to-make-it-easier-to-pay-tax-right-first-time

It's good to have this confirmed, and this page is currently dated 21/07/25: "We are also testing early thinking regarding collecting new data from financial institutions on dividend income and other income from investments." I'll wager interest on cash balances paid by brokerages isn't currently collected either.

money4sb

eskbanker said:

money4sb said:

Is the onus on the person to put their hand up and say.....'I think I still owe you money'  or...........?

Yes, it's the taxpayer's responsibility to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid.

I think that HMRC should have a way of tabulating the interest such that each person might be able to see how it's calculated from their savings. 

As things stand very few people will go through all of their statements and online accounts to see if the accumulated interest matches what HMRC think it should be.

In my wife's case, she has interest from about 7 different banks and about 10 different accounts all together.  It's virtually impossible for me to work out which accounts that HMRC missed to come up with their final figure.

I'm not minded to write to them for a breakdown. From what I gather it takes them an eternity to get back to you.

I'm sure most people will be similarly minded.  

However, if each bit of interest was printed on their form (from which account and bank), then people might be encouraged then to put their hands up and say.... "Ahh....You've missed the interest from BanksRUs".

Just my thoughts anyway.

mon3ysav3r

money4sb said:

eskbanker said:

money4sb said:

Is the onus on the person to put their hand up and say.....'I think I still owe you money'  or...........?

Yes, it's the taxpayer's responsibility to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid.

I think that HMRC should have a way of tabulating the interest such that each person might be able to see how it's calculated from their savings. 

As things stand very few people will go through all of their statements and online accounts to see if the accumulated interest matches what HMRC think it should be.

In my wife's case, she has interest from about 7 different banks and about 10 different accounts all together.  It's virtually impossible for me to work out which accounts that HMRC missed to come up with their final figure.

I'm not minded to write to them for a breakdown. From what I gather it takes them an eternity to get back to you.

I'm sure most people will be similarly minded.  

However, if each bit of interest was printed on their form (from which account and bank), then people might be encouraged then to put their hands up and say.... "Ahh....You've missed the interest from BanksRUs".

Just my thoughts anyway.

I did request the BBSI information, and some of the redacted account names/numbers for the Estimated interest values on the sheet are just wrong e.g. ***0001 which doesn't match any of my accounts

eskbanker

money4sb said:

eskbanker said:

money4sb said:

Is the onus on the person to put their hand up and say.....'I think I still owe you money'  or...........?

Yes, it's the taxpayer's responsibility to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid.

I think that HMRC should have a way of tabulating the interest such that each person might be able to see how it's calculated from their savings. 

As things stand very few people will go through all of their statements and online accounts to see if the accumulated interest matches what HMRC think it should be.

In my wife's case, she has interest from about 7 different banks and about 10 different accounts all together.  It's virtually impossible for me to work out which accounts that HMRC missed to come up with their final figure.

I'm not minded to write to them for a breakdown. From what I gather it takes them an eternity to get back to you.

I'm sure most people will be similarly minded.  

However, if each bit of interest was printed on their form (from which account and bank), then people might be encouraged then to put their hands up and say.... "Ahh....You've missed the interest from BanksRUs".

Just my thoughts anyway.

I'm sure you're not the only one thinking the same way but you're extrapolating to some generalisations there, to rationalise your stance!

Would it make life easier if HMRC shared more information more readily? Yes.

Does that change the taxpayer responsibility to pay the correct amount of tax? No.