HMRC

Sleeping dogs??

I dread doing my tax return and hope that both HMRC and I get it right.

Self assessment isn’t an enjoyable task and, like you GG, I always hope it’s right but I never hear either way. It almost makes you wonder whether it’s ever really checked.

Giving part of your personal allowance to your husband means that your personal allowance is correspondingly reduced and that has probably brought your total income over the (reduced) threshold. Your private pensions may be small, but when you add their annual value to your SP you may find they add up to more than you thought.

Quote Germanshepherds
I hear you , As far as I “ was aware” I did pay tax during the tax years stated so am totally confused. If as you say that has reduced my own taxable income or increased it in this case I also understand .
What I believe has happened is ,where it was gave me choices for previous tax years ,I clicked on these ,not realising ( naively)
That it would in fact have an adverse effect as I was only wanting to pass on the allowance for 24-25 .
In fact one of the years ,I am literally over by a mere £300 yet being asked to make a payment of £215 😕
That’s bonkers

Self assessment isn’t an enjoyable task and, like you GG, I always hope it’s right but I never hear either way. It almost makes you wonder whether it’s ever really checked.

It is why we pay an accountant[a small fortune] to hopefully do our tax correctly.

I looked into self assessment, but it would be too complicated. And too prone to errors for us to do it ourselves.

Marriage Allowance lets you transfer £1,260 of your Personal Allowance to your husband, wife or civil partner.

This reduces their tax by up to £252 in the tax year (6 April to 5 April the next year).

www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance

Two years would be around the £500 you are beng asked to pay but your husband would receive a corresponding refund.

Is that what you have done?

I can never understand why some celebrities get an unexpected tax bill of 1/2 million or something.

Either they have tried to do it all themselves.
Or they have incompetent accountants??
Though even tax rules seem to be open to interpretation sometimes.

Transferring part of your personal allowance has obviously increased the amount of your income which is taxed. If you were paying tax during the years for which you have transferred part of your allowance that has increased the amount of tax you should have paid. If you have transferred part of your allowance for previous years and have therefore now underpaid tax for those years HMRC may be applying penalties for late payment of the sums underpaid and now demanded. You will have to speak to them and maybe cancel the transfer of allowance. I fear it was the transfer for several years which was bonkers rather than HMRC’s response. It must have been obvious that if you clicked on the option not to transfer for the tax year 24/25 only (which doesn’t start until 6 April) you were laying yourself open to your tax position for those previous years you clicked on to be reopened. I suspect this is going to cost more than you thought it would save. Speak to them tomorrow and make yourself sound as unaware as possible. I am never afraid of pretending to be a silly old woman when necessary.

TinSoldier

So it seems , yes . Oh well if he gets the £500 refund that’s going to go straight back to them !
It would of been easier if I’d actually been able to get through on the phone 📞

fancythat

I can never understand why some celebrities get an unexpected tax bill of 1/2 million or something.

Either they have tried to do it all themselves.
Or they have incompetent accountants??
Though even tax rules seem to be open to interpretation sometimes.

Entirely different - they’re self employed and haven’t set aside enough money for tax. I doubt they have incompetent accountants - they just don’t listen to advice.

Germanshepherdsmum
Thank you so much for your & Tinsoldiers input of information.
I honestly, did not realise nor did it occur to me that this would happen .
All I truly was wanting to do was transfer for the coming tax year the allowed allowance amount . !!!
My error was in ticking the boxes that followed once I input my request , purely & simply I was under no illusion that it would ‘backfire’ on me as it were !

You might be able to plead your case with HMRC. As I have said, I can when necessary play the silly old woman despite being a retired solicitor - it can work. Didn’t realise what I was doing etc, I’m not proud. I hope you succeed with HMRC and I think you have probably realised that transferring part of your allowance is unlikely to be a good idea if you are both paying tax. The amount you can transfer is so small. Your pensions will increase each year and you’re likely to lose out by transferring the small amount of personal allowance that is allowed. I hope you are able to cancel the transfer. Good luck! 🤞

Germanshepherdsmum

fancythat

I can never understand why some celebrities get an unexpected tax bill of 1/2 million or something.

Either they have tried to do it all themselves.
Or they have incompetent accountants??
Though even tax rules seem to be open to interpretation sometimes.

Entirely different - they’re self employed and haven’t set aside enough money for tax. I doubt they have incompetent accountants - they just don’t listen to advice.

1/2 million tax is a lot, somewhere a mistake has been made (accidental or deliberate) for that much expect HMRC to look at you very carefully, proving them wrong is time consuming and expensive.

Don’t make mistakes.

I’m going to plead ‘insanity’ if HMRC say my self-assessment is rubbish!

Katie59

Germanshepherdsmum

fancythat

I can never understand why some celebrities get an unexpected tax bill of 1/2 million or something.

Either they have tried to do it all themselves.
Or they have incompetent accountants??
Though even tax rules seem to be open to interpretation sometimes.

Entirely different - they’re self employed and haven’t set aside enough money for tax. I doubt they have incompetent accountants - they just don’t listen to advice.

1/2 million tax is a lot, somewhere a mistake has been made (accidental or deliberate) for that much expect HMRC to look at you very carefully, proving them wrong is time consuming and expensive.

Don’t make mistakes.

metro.co.uk/2024/03/11/high-court-issues-deadline-william-roache-91-pay-huge-tax-bill-20441025/

He is the latest celebrity.

Which hasnt really got anything to do with the op, so I will shut up at this point!

I’ve just had my tax code for this year, I have been allocated my husband’s allowance. This is a bit of a drawback as he died nearly four years ago! Trying to sort it out on line is proving impossible. So best of luck to you and fingers crossed we can both get sorted out!

Germanshepardsmum ,Tinsoldier ,
Thank you to everyone who responded , btw I am not making a self assessment . But have aSP plus 3 very small private pensions ( when I say small please believe that as one is paid annually at just £32 after tax !)
Speaking now to HMRC

Aren’t I the lucky one ,, I received 2 more letters today making the total £758 ……
I am currently on hold to HMRC … I will take the pleading old lady advice ( though I am anything but in my head at least );
Let this be a warning to myself … & others …. Oh & my DH also got 2 letters , today neither had a cheque enclosed . Unfortunately he also OWES money but as he is still PAYE it will be deducted at source .
midgey that is totally awful for you ❤️

🤞 Let us know how it goes. Sound as if you are losing your marbles and didn’t realise what you were doing, get a bit teary … beg them to help you.

Bar £2, that's three years £252 x 3 - see my post yesterday at 16:58. £1260 @ 20% for each year you have pressed the button to transfer allowances to your husband when you only meant to do it for the coming tax year.

Remember to emphasise you made a mistake, didn’t mean to click on extra years, so difficult when you’re elderly and muddled, sob, sob etc etc.

You feel like that anyway after waiting 45 minutes to get through to anybody!

Very true! Just don’t take your frustration out on them when you finally get to the top of the queue!

Funnily enough, I received a letter from HMRC today too, stating I owe £164.

I haven't had time to read it carefully, but when I filled in my self-assessment, the calculation was that I owed nothing.

I didn't earn anything in the last tax year apart from my pensions, which were taxed at source, so I'm a little confused.