Underpaid tax??

[davetza]

Please note this is currently with my accountant to resolve but I am a big believer in getting as much information as possible.

As I was inside IR35 in the 2017/2018 tax year I ended up doing my self assessment myself. Long story short I was on the wrong tax code for some of the year and I noticed about half way through the year and got myself put on a K code to try and get in front of my tax bill. When I filled in the self assessment there was a question about how much tax I had underpaid which I found confusing as I though the whole point of the self assessment was to tell you how much you owed at the end of the process after all the calculations had been made not ask you to guess a number half way through the process. I spoke to the self assessment helpline and they were as helpful as a chocolate teapot but they basically said do what you can and the return will be checked. Needless to say I completed the return and was told the HMRC owed me money which I knew was wrong and a couple of weeks later received a letter saying they had reviewed my return and I actually owed them money which was a figure that felt right from the basic calculations I had done on how much tax I owed and which I paid by the January 31st deadline.

My accountant has just submitted my 2018/2019 tax return and gave me the calculation on how much I owe. However I have just received a letter from the HMRC saying I owe thousands more as I have underpaid tax from another year (helpfully they do not say which just earlier years) However if I login to the self assessment portal and look at my tax overview for the past few years it is showing no tax owed.

Has anyone seen this before and have any idea what is going on???

[northernladuk]

Difficult to say with no numbers. You could try ringing them as part of your information gathering?

[headsy]

I have just had a letter saying I owed near enough 1000£ due to underpaid tax 18/19 year. I basically told them I couldn't pay it all by January they said they apy what you can and then they will assess it and either offset it against my tax code or give me more time to pay. I told the guy I can pay 100£ a month and he said do that up until end of Jan that could pay half it off then they will review after Jan. However by the time they review it I will probs have it paid off so no loss.

[cojak]

Please note this is currently with my accountant to resolve but I am a big believer in getting as much information as possible.

As I was inside IR35 in the 2017/2018 tax year I ended up doing my self assessment myself. Long story short I was on the wrong tax code for some of the year and I noticed about half way through the year and got myself put on a K code to try and get in front of my tax bill. When I filled in the self assessment there was a question about how much tax I had underpaid which I found confusing as I though the whole point of the self assessment was to tell you how much you owed at the end of the process after all the calculations had been made not ask you to guess a number half way through the process. I spoke to the self assessment helpline and they were as helpful as a chocolate teapot but they basically said do what you can and the return will be checked. Needless to say I completed the return and was told the HMRC owed me money which I knew was wrong and a couple of weeks later received a letter saying they had reviewed my return and I actually owed them money which was a figure that felt right from the basic calculations I had done on how much tax I owed and which I paid by the January 31st deadline.

My accountant has just submitted my 2018/2019 tax return and gave me the calculation on how much I owe. However I have just received a letter from the HMRC saying I owe thousands more as I have underpaid tax from another year (helpfully they do not say which just earlier years) However if I login to the self assessment portal and look at my tax overview for the past few years it is showing no tax owed.

Has anyone seen this before and have any idea what is going on???

Ooh, this could be a problem that raises it's ugly head next year. It's one I hadn't really thought of.

What does it say in your .gov tax portal? I'll take a look at mine but keep us posted on the outcome please.

[davetza]

Ooh, this could be a problem that raises it's ugly head next year. It's one I hadn't really thought of.

What does it say in your .gov tax portal? I'll take a look at mine but keep us posted on the outcome please.

This is the issue the portal does not have any useful info. All my previous tax years are showing as no tax owed which is why I am struggling to understand where this underpaid tax comes from. Still waiting for my accountant to get back to me. They are supposed to be talking to them today.

It sounds like you have a suspicion on what this may be??

[davetza]

I got tired of waiting for my accountant to sort this out and ended up phoning the HMRC myself. I ended up speaking to both the self assessment and PAYE people and they could see my assessment has been amended to include underpaid tax but could not see why. After some investigation they have changed the assessment back to what it was so I do owe the additional amount. It is a massive relief to get this sorted fairly quickly and before the weekend but it is worrying how stuff can this can happen.

[cojak]

The only suspicion I have is that contractors are going to drop their accountants for their ‘employers’ but still have to deal with the nuance of tax. Let’s face it - agencies will never see themselves as real employers and they won’t give a flying fig for contractors tax affairs - we’ll still be on the hook for making sure we pay the right amount of tax moving from contractor to permie.

We need a way of pushing HMRC into making the tax portal better than it currently is.

I know that HMRC likes it the way it is today, vague and opaque regarding how much you owe them, but feck ‘em. If they want to be as vicious as the IRS HMRC also need to be as professional.