8k possible HMRC bill - help!

[mummyrabbitpeppapig]

My oh is employed and has to drive in excess of 80 miles mon - fri to commute to his place of work ( he's in IT so has to travel out to fix customer problems in addition). He has a company car for work.
It's just come to light that the last accountant was fiddling the books to the tune of thousands so hes gone. The new one has discovered that my oh should have been paying his own company car tax and could have to pay HMRC 8k in backdated tax. He's shick

That's not quote true. Anyone with simple tax doesn't have to fill a return in. Anything slightly out of the ordinary, like rental income, capital gains, pensions contributions to claim back, expenses over £2500 and you should. Full details here www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/who-must-send-a-tax-return

If you are an employee you often do NOT have to fill out a tax return as all your tax is taken under PAYE. If you earn over £100k you must and if you want to claim back higher rate tax on things like pension contributions, charitable donations or declare additional income like separate trading income, profits on shares.

So here we have an employee under PAYE who has had the benefit of a company car for private use - a perk of the job. Most people with a company car know the tax is high on the benefit and indeed loads of people as a result now reject the company car offered and just pay for their own because they don't like the new tax regime and then they just claim back their petrol from the employer for work journeys (but not the journeys from home to work which are not claimable).

So this poor chap did not know anything about the above or did not bother checking his P60 to check he was being taxed on his benefit in kind of using a company car and relied on the accountant employed by the company and now the chickens have come home to roost.

Are we sure it's £8000 and know how many years it goes back and checked the calculation of the sum of how much is due? If the employer misleads you to your detriment I wonder if you have a claim against the employer who then can sue their external accountant or the in house accountant for negligence?

That's not quote true. Anyone with simple tax doesn't have to fill a return in

I thought he was self employed.

If not, then no. Although ir35 is fucking a lot of things up...

But that's another thread.

The company reimbursing him for insurance, maintenance etc is the same as having a company car that you pay tax for the benefit of having for your use.
Surely the first thing you do when offered such a bonus is ask what the catch is - the catch is the extra tax.

So he will have max of 3 years' liability, the last of which (tax year 2016-17) isn't due to be paid until this October 2017 to January 2018. 8k sounds high for 2 years so first thing is to come clean with HMRC and check it.

We had this. DH employed by a major bank but the HR department messed up everyone's beneficial loan tax calculation over a number of years.

We had a period of weeks where we kept getting letters demanding back payment of tax. Each letter covered a different tax year. It was a really worrying time as HMRC stated in the letter that the money had to be paid immediately. It came to over £10k.

In the end DH managed to get them to agree an interest free loan and a temporary tax code adjustment so that it could be paid back gradually.

HMRC now insist that he complete a self assessment form each year even though he is on PAYE and we save a set amount each month in the event of any future tax demands.

I hope you get it sorted. We found it hard to get through on the phone but once you do get through the staff are very knowledgeable and helpful.

OP, I don't think you've commented yet on whether the tax calculation was just plain wrong or if it was right and the accountant 'deducted it' and kept the money. Important.

When you sign your self assessment return you're agreeing that it's correct - even if you pay an agent to complete it.

Yes your husband should have to pay and I'd start the ball rolling declaring it.

Have a look at prompted and unprinted disclosure and HMRC behavioural penalties.

*unprompted

please, I think this person had no obligationt ofill out a tax return as they are on simple PAYE as an employee.

I agree it is important to know if the accountant at the employer made a mistake or has run off abroad to live the high life on stolen money.

You can be done for "failure to notify" if you fall under the sa criteria and don't notify HMRC.

Is he employed or is he sub contracted?

He's employed. The accountant has D disappeared - my bf company wasn't the only one he was 'diddling' - the amount my bf thinks he owes is a 'guesstimation' as he doesn't know how many years HMRC will go back

The employer is still here

So the employer has paid the money over to the accountant, who has never paid it to HMRC for X number of years, and the company have no knowledge of this, no communication from HMRC? Was it a company accountant? Believe me, HMRC write to you A LOT, whether you use outside agencies or not.

I'm really sorry, I'm confused OP.

Also, we've been inspected 3 times now by HMRC. Two occasions, nothing was found, we have polices and procedures in place for bloody everything. However, when they did find something, which ironically was to do with my company car, the employer footed the whole cost of the back tax, penalty and interest. The company file the P11d at the end of the day.

Just something to ponder.

OP, even the knowledgeable posters here can't tell you anything useful unless you give all the details. Which would be unwise on a public forum. So pay an accountant to hear your details and then advise you on what to do.

I don't fill in a tax return and I have had company cars. It's not mandatory

I'm not asking the same question a third time. FWIW, if the OP had answered it, I would have helped.

Suggest the OP's OH pays an accountant and listens to the questions being asked.

Good luck.

It sounds like the independent advised several companies at once so he would be an external accountant to that company. The boyfriend is an employee and does not have to complete a tax return. He just not surprisingly expected his employer would have paid the right tax. However even if an employer makes a mistake usually the employee has to pay the back tax.

Here the employer might have insurance against an accountant stealing money which might cover the shortfall.

It is hard to work out the fraud here. Normally the accountant would say you owe HMRC £X and then the company pays that money direct to HMRC so the accountant never has their hands on the money.