Can i amend an old return with milage allowance now HMRC see my old EBT as income

[cshylock]

I have a brief question. I am one of many who are trapped with the CLSO fiasco and HMRC have sent me a settlement calculation. Obvioulsy they see the loan on my 2005 return as income and this is where i have a question in regards to amending this old return while i explore the possibility and impact of accepting the HMRC settlement offer.

I genuinely had to commute 180 miles per day (back in 2005) to do my contract role and i didnt claim milage on my return, mainly under the advice that it wasnt needed due to the EBT scheme being used. So if HMRC retrospectively view my loan as income, i obviously did a lot of miles on commuting, am i able to amend/update this old return to cliam milage?

If they retrospectively apply income, i want to retrospectivel apply milage allowance. Is this possible for a 10 year old return and if so what what i need to do or prove in order to justify this?

thanks

[ASB]

I have a brief question. I am one of many who are trapped with the CLSO fiasco and HMRC have sent me a settlement calculation. Obvioulsy they see the loan on my 2005 return as income and this is where i have a question in regards to amending this old return while i explore the possibility and impact of accepting the HMRC settlement offer.

I genuinely had to commute 180 miles per day (back in 2005) to do my contract role and i didnt claim milage on my return, mainly under the advice that it wasnt needed due to the EBT scheme being used. So if HMRC retrospectively view my loan as income, i obviously did a lot of miles on commuting, am i able to amend/update this old return to cliam milage?

If they retrospectively apply income, i want to retrospectivel apply milage allowance. Is this possible for a 10 year old return and if so what what i need to do or prove in order to justify this?

thanks

I fail to understand why you didn't do it correctly in the first place since this would obviously reduce income levels and thus any loan payment required. Righting this now would be considerbly cheaper (assuming acceptance of the fact that the loans were income). I suppose there could be legitimate reasons. At least not claiming expenses which were incurred isn't criminal.

However you are somewhat stuffed. Assuming you have elements of releif you missed you only really have two options:-

1. Amend return online within 12 month (potentially longer if the return was late being sent to you).
2. Write to taxman and say "oopsy, forgot a load of stuff I meant to claim". You used yo have 6 years to do this but I believe it is now 4.

Sure the taxman has more than 4 years to sort out income. But it's different. Unfair? possibly. Unequal, definitely.

SACM12000 - Overpayment relief: Contents

[cshylock]

I fail to understand why you didn't do it correctly in the first place since this would obviously reduce income levels and thus any loan payment required. Righting this now would be considerbly cheaper (assuming acceptance of the fact that the loans were income). I suppose there could be legitimate reasons. At least not claiming expenses which were incurred isn't criminal.

However you are somewhat stuffed. Assuming you have elements of releif you missed you only really have two options:-

1. Amend return online within 12 month (potentially longer if the return was late being sent to you).
2. Write to taxman and say "oopsy, forgot a load of stuff I meant to claim". You used yo have 6 years to do this but I believe it is now 4.

Sure the taxman has more than 4 years to sort out income. But it's different. Unfair? possibly. Unequal, definitely.

SACM12000 - Overpayment relief: Contents

ASB, i think its actually quite easy to have made these mistakes in hindsight especially when the tax advice and annual returns were managed by EDGE/advantage accounts at a time when the EBT thing appeared a viable option for the average contractor.

I was told that my actual salary was too low to comfortably claim the amount of milage i was actually doing and therefore i shouldnt claim any considering i was in an EBT scheme.
This whole fiasco runs back to 2005/06 so from your reply it sounds like HMRC can apply retrospective law but a tax payer cannot amend a return to reflect this changing position and be able to claim what they should have, if HMRC`s position is accepted.

does anyone out there think i might have a hope in hell of getting them to accept this and allow an amended return. The thought of having to engage with them to ask this sounds too unsavory and i dont want to invite premature attention on my already impossible tax bill from 10 years ago.,

[TykeMerc]

I suspect that the line HMRC will take is that it was your decision to fill in your return the way you did, it was your decision to claim expenses at the level you have and it was your sole responsibility as it's your tax return.

They aren't going to care two hoots that you took an agents advice on the numbers for your return, they will view your scheme provider as agents in that, it's still your personal responsibility and always has been.

Purely personal opinion, but you've more chance of winning the lottery jackpot 3 weeks running than getting any sympathy off HMRC towards your situation, scheme users are fair game to them.

[ASB]

Cshylock,

I wouldn't think there is a hope in hell. The timescales in hmrc rules seem pretty clear to me.

I think the advice you got as to how to fill in your return was questionable. Even at the time you received it. Smells very much of "keep your head down like this and hmrc wont notice".

Another thing is that hmrc are not saying it is income. Just that it is taxed that way. You need to figure out the impact of this going forwards. There are potential impacts on iht, trust taxes, income taxes when / if the loan is forgiven.

Whilst hmrc may say (and you may or may not agree) 50k loan; chargeable to income pay up 20k. And you may eventually agree that doesn't make the loan go away.that still exists.

[webberg]

HMRC say that the loan is "income" but is not trading or employment income.

As such costs incurred if trading or in employment will NOT be allowable.

The upside is that NIC should not be due but the confused and inconsistent picture emerging from other threads is that some people get charged NIC and some not, so who knows where HMRC is at?