When to cancel tax free status?

Savvy_Sue

The R85 form has nothing whatsoever to do with your status as a student, it is available to anyone and everyone who does not earn enough to pay pay tax. You have to fill in a separate form for every account on which you want the tax paid gross. And then (when you are paying tax) notify each account that you are cancelling the R85.

So if you're going to Uni from full-time work, you need to check whether you have earned more than the personal allowance this year (£4895 in most cases). And if you have, as JimClark says, fill in the R85s in April next year.

As for various accounts not being available to students, registering the R85 wouldn't necessarily ring alarm bells. Plenty of people don't pay tax for one reason or another. But it might lead to questions being asked, so be prepared for that.

brains

Savvy_Sue wrote:

The R85 form has nothing whatsoever to do with your status as a student, it is available to anyone and everyone who does not earn enough to pay pay tax. You have to fill in a separate form for every account on which you want the tax paid gross. And then (when you are paying tax) notify each account that you are cancelling the R85.

So if you're going to Uni from full-time work, you need to check whether you have earned more than the personal allowance this year (£4895 in most cases). And if you have, as JimClark says, fill in the R85s in April next year.

As for various accounts not being available to students, registering the R85 wouldn't necessarily ring alarm bells. Plenty of people don't pay tax for one reason or another. But it might lead to questions being asked, so be prepared for that.

Yep, I just thought the R85 was for OAP's, Children and people living overseas etc, wasn't aware that students could fill it out - sorry for the confusion. I've checked and I've earned over the threshold for this year so I will do it in April - thanks.

As for the savings account, its the Barclays e-savings account - not available to students.

jimclark1967

brains wrote:

As for the savings account, its the Barclays e-savings account - not available to students.

Where do they say that? Can't see it mentioned on the Barclays website..

JC

brains

jimclark1967 wrote:

Where do they say that? Can't see it mentioned on the Barclays website..

JC

I worked for them for a few years, yet I'm sure I saw a few students with these accounts. If you ring the customer services number and ask them to double check if your allowed an e-savings account as a student. If they check the Information Directory it will advise them that students are not allowed the account. I've read through the T&C's of the account and I can't find anything though. Barclays are pretty strange

thewaterboy

I completed a R85 form for my currect account about 6 years ago and therefore paid no tax. I began working in september and now earn more than the persoanl allowance. I therefore now need to revoke my R85. Do I do this by contacting my back or should i contact HMRC?

Also what will happen regarding the tax I should have paid on my interest last tax year?

Lokolo

thewaterboy wrote: »

I completed a R85 form for my currect account about 6 years ago and therefore paid no tax. I began working in september and now earn more than the persoanl allowance. I therefore now need to revoke my R85. Do I do this by contacting my back or should i contact HMRC?

Also what will happen regarding the tax I should have paid on my interest last tax year?

As in you started to work in last Sep?

How much interest did you get last year?

You shoud pay HMRC 20% of that.

And you should contact your bank about getting the R85 revoked.

MarkyMarkD

You contact your bank(s), not HMRC, to cancel the R85.

Regarding the underpaid tax, you should notify HMRC that you've earned £x in untaxed interest during 2007/08 and they will probably reduce your tax code slightly to recover the underpayment during 2008/09.

Bigdaddy

For free impartial advice on student tax matters , try www.studenttaxservices.org.uk , it has all the info you need on what to do when you start or finish a job, interest on savings etc. It even has all the tax forms relevant to students and example letters to use when writing to HMRC

Hope this helps, registration is required , but it is free to use and they have a free helpdesk!