Online self assessment tax payments - a question

[Sam]

I'm trying to do one of these.

I have a day job, which I pay tax on, and also earn some money writing about football, which isn't taxed by PAYE. I've been quite lazy about getting the tax sorted on that, mainly because I've known all along that the deadline isn't til the 31st of January, and therefore I've thought I had ages.

This evening I went to the HMRC website. I followed the instructions on there to set myself up for Individual Self Assessment.

I got through the terms & conditions, accepted them, put my email address in and got a User ID, which they'll send me in the post as well and which I'll need to use to activate my account within seven days. But that's not the end of the registration process, because next I have to give them my National Insurance number, and my Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number.

This is where I hit a snag. I don't have a UTR. I thought I'd get it when I'd successfully registered for Self Assessment, but apparently I need to have it already in order to get further along the process to register for Self Assessment. The help button on the 'what is this?' button says: 'The Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) will have been issued by HM Revenue & Customs when you or your client registered for Self Assessment. It is made up of ten numbers, for example 1234567890, and can be found on the Tax Return (SA100), a 'Notice to complete a Tax Return' (SA316) or a Statement of Account. It may also be found on other documents we have issued.'

I've never in my life been sent any of those documents (Tax Return, Notice to complete..., or Statement of Account).

And after a lot of reading the help pages (no-one picked up on their phone line, and there was no queueing system so I just had to keep redialling), I found something along the lines of 'You need to register for Self Assessment if we've sent you a Tax Return.'

As I say, I've never been sent a Tax Return. I'm just trying to get registered so I can give them the money I presumably need to pay in tax from my freelancing.

Am I trying to pay via the wrong method here? Does the fact that Inland Revenue haven't sent me a Tax Return mean that I don't in fact owe them anything (I presume the answer to that question is no)? If I do need to do it via Self Assessment, and need to get a UTR, how the hell do I get one? Will my local tax office sort me out with one if I phone them up tomorrow (which I'm going to do)?

You'd think they'd be happy for you to give them money, wouldn't you...

[George]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Have you gone through all the letters and documents you've receive from HMRC regarding any self-employed income? I know it sounds daft but it might be in the letter head of one.

Also did you receive the paper based self-assessment form in the spring of last year?

[George]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Also, I believe (though I may be wrong here) that it's through your type of national insurance contributions, that the HMRC will know if your self-employed or not. I make class 2 contributions for instance.

[Sam]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

To answer your questions in order, George:

I've received one letter, in October 2006, giving me my tax code for that tax year in a job I ended up doing for two weeks. It has a 'Tax reference' in the letterhead (HMRC website says the UTR is also referred to as 'Tax reference). But it doesn't fit in the box on the HMRC site and when I tried to type it in anyway, I was told it wasn't in the right format (it's not ten numbers, it's three numbers, a /, two letters and five more numbers).

No.

[Sam]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

And re: your second message, which you typed whilst I was typing mine - HMRC don't know I'm freelancing. I'm trying to tell them that now. I thought it was going to be a case of saying to them 'I've earned £x which I've yet to pay tax on, what percentage of it do I owe you?'

Stupid I know. But I'm only just starting out here...

[George]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Have you received the letter with the confirmation code under the peel off, that you get when you apply to do the online-assessment?

[Sam]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

No. I just tried to go through the application process for online assessment, an hour and a half ago, and I can't complete the process because I don't have this number - they want me to provide the UTR and either my NI number or my postcode (both of which I do know) before they'll send me anything.

[George]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

A UTR is ten numbers long, no letters. Ring up the self-employed number for NI contributions first thing in the morning and tell them your situation. From that you should get a UTR and ask them to send a confirmation (with the UTR) letter through the post as soon as possible. This will still take a few working days.
When you get the number you can apply for the online assessment, but even then you will have to wait several working days for the aforementioned letter with the peel off code to arrive. The NI contributions you have to pay are nothing (less than £3.00 a week in my case).

A pain I know.

[Sam]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Thanks George. A little more searching the FAQs led me to the same answer a couple of minutes ago - I was about to post a 'panic over' message on here. I don't think I'm registering as self-employed though, merely telling them I need to do a tax return due to non-PAYE income (I've got an employee number).

I know full well I shouldn't have left it so late, but even so. The number of numbers required is ridiculous!

[George]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

I'm just as bad for leaving it late and have been informed that I'll be fined £100 for the last tax years deadline being missed, but I don't fucking care.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Sam, ring the number. Sort it out. And pay your taxes that you've been dodging, before the rest of us come and crucify you on your own front lawn. And no, that car wasn't "for business use only", was it?

Fucking tax-dodging cunts. They've started all of this, you know. The polar bears! I'd light the bonfire myself.

[Levin]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Ok, these self assessment things. Are they only for self employed people?

Only the adverts aren't very clear and I've put off asking HMRC in case it turned out I owed them for ten years of fines. I have one job and all my tax is done by my employer.

[G-Man]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Ha!

Doing on-line taxes in South Africa has become pretty easy. And yet, I nearly got a heart attack from the frustration of trying to open my tax form with Acrobat Reader. It just wouldn't. After a zillion attempts, I phoned the helpline. Only then did I learn that I, in fact, need Acrobat Reader version fucking 9. If I had been on dial-up, I'd have given up; it took forever to download and install.

In the end, it worked OK. The calculator promised me a nice tax rebate, but I don't believe the calculator at all. The assessor has asked for supporting documentation. Doesn't fill me with comfort at all.

[Banana Banana]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Self assessment is for self-employed and also for a random selection of people under PAYE.

However if you have additional earnings you need to declare them and pay tax on them, at which point you will be subject to self-assessment forever.

I gave up on finding the UTR on a few occasions and ended up printing the form and driving to the HMRC office on deadline day, where it landed in an enormous pile of forms.

[Sam]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Ricky - what Chirpy said. I'm not self-employed, but I do earn some money which isn't taxed on PAYE.

Filling in self-assessment for the current tax year will be interesting when the time comes round though. I'll be in Argentine by then...

[Sam]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

Sam, ring the number. Sort it out. And pay your taxes that you've been dodging, before the rest of us come and crucify you on your own front lawn.

Why do you think I'm moving to South America right after the end of the current tax year, Rogin?

[Note for any Inland Revenue people who stumble across this thread: I am not moving to South America in order to avoid tax. I really can't emphasise this enough.]

[sw2borshch]

Online self assessment tax payments - a question

Too late.