Carers Allowance & Income Tax

annben

Please can someone give me some advice.

I have been claiming carers allowance for my mom for the last 4 years and working part time (earning under the allowed amount). I have only just discovered that I should have been paying income tax on the carers allowance (that's what you get for not reading the letters sent my DWP!) and am absolutely panic striken. I have worked out that I owe approximately £1000 in back taxes. Can anyone please let me know the best way to deal with this. Will they think I did it on purpose? Should I contact the tax office or the DWP? Should I have contacted the tax office when I started claiming carers allowance or was it up to the DWP to inform them? I assumed that if I was liable for tax it would be stopped out of my wages.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

stazi

I suggest that you ring your tax office and ask what to do. Just tell them what happened. They will no doubt send you a form to complete.
Sorry to tell, that not only may you owe £1K in tax, they may also charge you interest.

dhohmh

hi, same thing happened to me, i had been claiming carers for my daughter while working part time, just phone tax office, they are very helpful. They will need to know ur earning from employer for last 4 years and benefits (carers) for last 4 years. They will then work out how much you owe, and amend ur tax code so that you repay weekly from ur wages.