Self assessment: watch out for errors and scams

Published: Mon, 01/21/19

Whether or not you – or your accountant – have filed your tax return ahead of the 31^st January deadline the usual ‘self-assessment’ stories are appearing in the media, some of which may affect you.

You’re late – pay £100!

I’m surprised that HMRC hasn’t run out of feet to shoot itself in yet, but their latest howler takes some beating. Some taxpayers have received notices say that their 2017-18 tax return wasn’t filed by the 31^st January deadline and therefore a £100 fine has been levied despite the fact that the deadline is still 10 days away.

If you receive one of these letters you need to contact HMRC – or ask your accountant to do so – as HMRC won’t automatically correct their error.

You have nothing to pay on account for next year

Really? Well actually you probably do, but HMRC’s software is telling a number of taxpayers that they don’t. Confused? So will they be when they get an interest charge for non-payment. HMRC has said it won’t penalise people who don’t pay because they are mistakenly told they don’t need to, but you need to tell them as again HMRC won’t automatically correct their error.

You are due a repayment

A popular scan at this time of year is the text purporting to be from HMRC saying that you are due a repayment.

Scam text messages have become a particularly effective tool for fraudsters in recent years. Government statistics have found that individuals are nine times more likely to fall for text message scams than other forms of fraud, like email, because they appear more legitimate.

Many scam text messages will display “HMRC” as the sender as opposed to a phone number, for example.

HMRC’s director of customer services said “As email and website scams become less effective, fraudsters are increasingly turning to text messages to con taxpayers”.

Tax specialists have also warned people to be on the lookout for fraudulent activity in the run up to the self-assessment deadline. An advisor from RSM, said: “Fraudsters are using this busy period to trick taxpayers into disclosing important personal data. “As many taxpayers will be frantically trying to complete and submit their tax return by 31 January, an email which appears to come from HMRC may not seem out of place.”

And finally…..

The message is clear. Check your tax return carefully and double-check the tax calculation supplied by HMRC…if may not be correct. And if you haven’t yet filed your return don’t forget to include those expenses you pay personally such as subscriptions to newspapers and magazines for work, professional memberships, mileage for business trips, safety clothing and dry cleaning of work attire.

Noel Guilford