Taxing issues
Goodness me, what a day.In an effort to be a good citizen, I attempted to do my taxes online yesterday. Turns out I need a unique taxpayer number, or somesuch thing.
Well, I was working for myself whilst looking for work last year, and I figured I'd have a big tax bill right about now. So be it.
But it turns out I am supposed to have told the tax office about my being 'in business' within three months of it starting. So I phone up to let them know about this and discover I'm due a £100 fine for not telling them in the first three months.
Ok, fine (no pun intended).
So I decide to suck up the fine, get my unique taxpayer number thing and do my taxes online, still in time for the deadline.
Oh no. It transpires that the number will take at least a week to process, even though registering myself as a business only takes 7 minutes.
And a week is easily enough to take me past the Jan 31st deadline. And that's another £100 fine.
So now I'm £200 down and I haven't even started.
Now what would you do in my position? I would love to pay my tax, but they're going to not just charge me the tax but fine me for the lateness.
On the other hand, if I say nothing, the odds are that they will never know anything about the year I spent not paying tax. I avoid a shit load of paperwork both for the tax and appealing the fines. I avoid paying the tax.
Meanwhile, huge corporations and fabulously wealthy individuals are out there legitimately paying fuck all.
All in, I think I'm going to try and pay, but seeing as I'm being fined anyway, fuck it, I might as well do it in my own sweet time.
After all, tax doesn't have to be taxing.
So why am I drinking paintstripper just to take the edge off the tension then?
Oh, and incidentally, when I called the tax office, not only did I get through very quickly, but the man I spoke to was tremendously helpful, so I do have to give them credit for that.
But they'll have to apply for the credit, including full documentation of every conversation, before Feb 2nd of course.
posted by Peter The Great @ 9:32 PM
4 Comments:
You're not alone. I spent from 8pm on Monday night until 10pm last night (26 hours) working on my figures for the companies, myself and this Capital Gains theft (as I perceive it). I had 2 toilet breaks.
Ah, I hear you say, you should have used an accountant. My business partner, who was with me for most of that time, IS a chartered accountant and spent 20 years in a senior position in a FTSE-100 company acting as such - and even he found some of the calculations mind-boggling and pointless.
In your position, I just wouldn't bother. Fuck 'em.
You need to be aware, also (if you weren't already), that after today they start charging interest on what you owe them as well (although strangely they don't pay you any if it turns out they owe you e.g. for higher-rate tax relief on pension contributions).
Now you've called them, you're in the system and there's a good chance they'll track you down. You'd have been better off keeping your head down completely - they'd never have had a clue.
Sorry about this, but in my dealings with the Inland Revenue I've always found them extremely fair, efficient and helpful.
In my third year at university, I finally decided to do something about the tax I had overpaid from my Saturday job in the sixth form. I didn't have all the payslips, so I wrote them a letter saying that I thought they owed me some money. About a month later, without any further communication, I received a cheque for more than I thought I was owed, plus four years worth of interest at above base rate.
Then in 2003-4 when I left NatWest halfway through the tax year and didn't work for the rest of the year I completed my tax return on 7 April since I had obviously overpaid and wanted the money back ASAP. I expected a long wait and at least a suspicious letter or two, but the money was in my account within three days.
And since I've had my own business and been VAT registered I've had nothing but praise for them.
Oh dear, my first comment on this blog and it's to praise the revenue and customs. My Anarchist credentials are finally destroyed.
Peter, darling, I am getting a little anxious about the increasingly adult content of your blog. The sort of adult content I want to read to read on a blog called 'JUVENILE (note my emphasis) dementia'is the sort that would make me slightly anxious about having the most exposed desk in the office- not the sort that has me running for my Basildon Bond to fire off a quick missive to the daily Mail. Tax returns? Assisting an injured stranger who has been run over? Self-evident and patronising adverts from the Public Information Office? I want juvenile and funny filth, please.
Thank you.
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