Hmrc

[tearinghair]

My daughter has received notification of a £100 fine for not submitting her tax return in time. She never received the forms; because she is a craft worker, in receipt of Disability living Allowance, she earns very little and does not usually have to pay tax. When the form did not arrive she assumed that she did not have to fill one in this year.
How should she proceed? The telephone number on the letter simply gave her ways to pay; she has since written to HMRC explaining the situation, but doesn't know how long they will take to get round to reading it.

[ummmm]

How close is you local tax office? They are really helpful.

[ummmm]

*your

[tearinghair]

There's one in her town, but the website says 'please do not write to or visit this office'. There is a phone number (0845).

[Islay]

Firstly tax offices are no longer open for joe public to walk into.
That phone number also is not correct, for self assessment contact details see below

Telephone: [phone]
Textphone: 0300 200 3319
Outside UK: [phone]


Call HMRC for advice on Self Assessment.

If you have a National Insurance number and Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) have them with you when you phone.

Find out about call charges

Opening times:


8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday
8am to 4pm Saturday
9am to 5pm Sunday


Closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.


Contact Self Assessment: online services for problems filing your tax return online or if you’ve lost your online service user name or password.

[tearinghair]

Thank you. We had hoped that there would be a way other than sitting with a telephone receiver to the ear for 45 minutes, but if that's what it takes....I was wondering, though, do you think she will have to pay the fine regardless? or do they have a Common Sense section these days? I agree about the help that used to be given by the local tax offices - they were absolutely brilliant when i had a query a few years ago.

[Islay]

They may remit it, if you go onto the gov.uk website and go under SA contact us there is a webchat - they were busy when I looked you may get through after lunch though or try first thing in the morning

[tearinghair]

Thank you, that's very helpful.

[fiction-factory]

Hi. I was just wondering what a craft worker is. Is she considered to be employed or self-employed? When you say " she assumed that she did not have to fill one in this year " does that mean she had filled them in in previous years?

[tearinghair]

She knits, and sells the items she makes at exhibitions. Definitely not employed, and she doesn't employ anyone else either, so I suppose it's Self-Assessment. Works at home, on her own (apart from the cat). In the past she has always received the form to complete, so when it didn't appear this year she thought it wasn't needed any more - she doesn't earn enough to pay tax.

[themas]

With the penalty notice she should have received a form to be filled in to appeal. There is a time limit (30 days?) If it is not too late she should use the form to appeal, explaining that she never received a form.

[Buenchico]

Let's get the rules clear to start with:
If you earn anything (other than as an employee on a PAYE basis) you're required to
(a) register as self-employed ;
(b) register the name and nature of your business(es) ; and
(c) submit an annual tax return.

Even if (as friend of mine used to do) you simply run a monthly tea dance in a village hall and (after you've paid for the hire of the hall, the fee for the person providing the music and for the refreshments) you typically make no more than a tenner profit from each dance, you MUST register your 'business' and complete a tax return. (My friend found that out the hard way, when HMRC started sending her very nasty letters, as they'd somehow found out about her 'business').

The obligation to submit a tax return applies even when there's no tax to pay (or, indeed, if your business has actually made a loss). The fact that HMRC hasn't sent out a form is irrelevant; the obligation to submit a return still applies.

However two years ago it became clear that HMRC would write off the £100 penalty for anyone who could offer a 'reasonable excuse' for not submitting a tax return on time:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hmrc-told-staff-to-waive-late-tax-return-fines-10286495.html
Simply stating that she erroneously believed that, due to not receiving any forms, she wasn't required to submit a return might be all that's needed.

For the future though, your daughter should register to submit her returns online. It's MUCH easier than doing it on paper because the computer asks you a few initial questions and then only asks ones which are actually relevant from then on (instead of having to work through page after page of irrelevant questions on a paper form).

[tearinghair]

Thanks to everyone for your help and advice. It seems to be sorted; she finally managed to speak to someone; they agreed that the form must have gone astray and will send a replacement. She does not have to pay the fine. I have passed on to her the suggestion that she file her return online in future, and she says she'll think about it though she is nervous of hacking. I reckon that HMRC must be one of the most secure sites around.