Declaring student loan repayments - Self-Assessment

Treacle1972

I did my degree 1995-1998, and had never made repayments to my student loan as was aways under the threshold for repayment. It was due to be written off in 2020, but due to me forgetting to return my notice of deferment in 2019, I defaulted, lost the chance to have it written off and it was passed to Link Financial, who have been collecting (very low) monthly payments from me ever since.

As Link Financial are a debt collection company and are not the SLC, I was told by my accountant at the time that these repayments were not declarable at 'student loan repayments' on my self-assessment return, but recently a colleague told me they were still classed as student loan repayments, even though they do not go to SLC.

HMRC can't give me clarification and I can't seem to get an answer from Link, so does anyone else know, or has had advice on this?

DullGreyGuy

Treacle1972 said:

I did my degree 1995-1998, and had never made repayments to my student loan as was aways under the threshold for repayment. It was due to be written off in 2020, but due to me forgetting to return my notice of deferment in 2019, I defaulted, lost the chance to have it written off and it was passed to Link Financial, who have been collecting (very low) monthly payments from me ever since.

As Link Financial are a debt collection company and are not the SLC, I was told by my accountant at the time that these repayments were not declarable at 'student loan repayments' on my self-assessment return, but recently a colleague told me they were still classed as student loan repayments, even though they do not go to SLC.

HMRC can't give me clarification and I can't seem to get an answer from Link, so does anyone else know, or has had advice on this?

Are you still under the threshold? 

The Student Loan section only asks three questions.... 

1) Have you been told to make repayments
2) What PAYE under graduate student loan repayments have you made 
3) What PAYE post graduate student loan payments have you made

Assuming you have been told to repay and you complete anything in 2 or 3 then this is deducted off the amount the form calculates you should be paying which is a combination of all your relevant incomes. 

I'd personally go with your accountant's view given they are the one you are paying and can sue if their advice is wrong. If you are below the threshold it will make no difference anyway as the calculation of what's due will be zero even without anything in the what you have already repaid this financial year. 

Treacle1972

Unlike SLC (or now Erudio), Link Financial don't abide by any kind of threshold, they just ask you what you can afford to pay based on a questionnaire about your income/outgoings.

Officially I am now over the threshold that would have required me to pay back my loan with SLC, but I don't think that's relevant to those questions, as they haven't told me to make repayments, and I've never made PAYE payments.

sheramber

Have you contacted SLC?