To think the HMRC self assessment website is one of the worst designed websites ever?

[bluebeach]

It just seems like a mess. I’ve filed my return, now going back a few days later to pay and it says I owe one amount, then on another page I owe a slightly different amount that’s apparently late (despite me being up to date with payments), but overall I owe another amount, which isn’t the sum of the other two amounts. I want to see a proper breakdown and see what I need to pay now but it’s all such a maze and half the time the website is down. I’m more than happy to pay what I owe but every year I get the same frustration over a completely rubbish system. Is it just me?

It is stupidly difficult. Every year I fill in the feedback form and tell them how bad it is. No change...I have exactly the same issue as some pp, says I owe one amount, then when I exit and go back in it says I'm in credit. I also feel I need to keep logging in to check as they don't notify you if they change their minds and decide you DO owe them something after all. Then they add a huge penalty fee if you don't submit, even if you owe nothing.
I am taxed PAYE - the only reason I have to do this at all is the Child Benefit charge. I don't even get the Child Benefit 🙄

My accountant does mine as we have a Ltd co as well and it's still not straightforward. My Hs tax on HMRC was £800 less than my accountants calculation. I've made payment and will check again soon to see if it's changed. I hate it.

Then last year I paid what they said and a month or so later got a demand for more 🤷‍♀️

The amount due does not take into account monies paid in advance (in their terms 'on account') for the next tax year. I go back into my account 2 -3 days later and then see the calculation of what is due - I find it really easy...

Just try to make up a missing NI contribution...

This was me at the weekend. It took me 45 minutes to fill in the self-assessment and about 60 minutes to actually pay the damn thing.

They seem to make the ways of paying look as dodgy as possible too so I had to stop several times to make sure I hadn't been redirected to something fraudulent.

Nah because then the accountant will more likely work out that they owe you money.

They keep sending reminders about filing in the form. I did mine ages ago, didn't pay at the time and was expecting a follow up confirmation asking for payment. Needless to say it hasn't arrived.

Something goes wrong every year. I've dealt with them more successfully in writing tbh.

Bloody nightmare.

Totally agree. Still getting over it days later and am having to go on hols to recover.

But the point is, at no time do they tell you to keep going back to check what's changed. People pay what they are told is the amount due (and the 'on account' is due by July 31st, so why would they keep going back if they've paid the Jan 31st due amount) and then find if they do log back in that it's all changed.

It's a nightmare site. I went round and round in circles trying to work out how much I owed for January and then how to pay it.

I was a bit late for my summer payment, they didn't notify me. As soon as I noticed I paid up, but it took them so long to register that I'd paid, that more interest had been applied after I'd paid it. I only found this out when paying my January payment. It's so annoying.

I'm so glad it's not just me. I was reduced to frustrated tears a couple of weeks ago.

Any gov site is awful. Remembering the passenger locator site for travelling during covid times? Every other country took minutes, uk one.... took ages and was just awful to use

OMG don’t get me started. I moved to Scotland last summer and rang HMRC to tell them and get a new tax code for my company to pay me. Oh boy do I wish I hadn’t done that! It turns out the person inputting my info put I moved to Scotland in 2017, not 2022, triggering a self assessment back tax of ££££. I have now called them four times with each call taking well over an hour to ask them to fix it. Nothing seems to change. I could cry.

The whole payment on account thing bugs me as well. I'd rather just pay my year's tax either in one sum, or via a monthly payment. I remember asking my accountant when I started up if I could just pay the whole lot in one go, and he told me no. If I did that, HMRC would likely send it back because i would have "overpaid" - even though it's paying the same amount, just in one go, rather than one in Jan and another in July.

These days, I generally keep 30% of my income each month and pop it into premium bonds so I can't touch it - then at the end of the year, I withdraw my tax amount and make the payment. I've had a few £25-50 wins through the year.

The next page after the balance should be pay this amount with the figure there

If they need an option for another figure it should be a separate box but to have a totally blank page bar enter amount here after all that information is nuts

I find it easy to use and straightforward. Once you submit your return you need to wait a few days and then when you go back in it shows the payment schedule based on your return. Making a payment is straightforward and I've never known the site to be down. Maybe I'm just lucky but it works fine for me.

Trust me HMRC do no make life easy for accountants either .

Also as PP said lots of people would potentially owe less if they used an accountant!

This is one of the worst explained things about how the HMRC SA site works.

The first amount shown as owed is the total due. It then takes 24-48hrs for the system to update and take into account any payments on account that you've made. Then you get the amount you owe.

The reality is, you need to submit your return at least two working days before 31st Jan, and then log in again to see how much you need to pay.

It's also not made entirely clear that you can manually adjust your payments on account for the following year.

@DogInATent I think it's not made very clear about reducing payments on account because too many people would think 'bingo! I can reduce my payments' when their income hasn't actually reduced and would end up owing a lot more + interest the year after.

Add to that the fact that the space for the name in the payment form has a limit of characters and my name doesn't fit 🤬🤬🤬🤬

I've already spent hours on the phone with them when couldn't get through the online certification for the self assessment, turns out they put all my surnames as middle names. There's really poor consideration for cultural diversity and I very much feel discriminated again 🤬🤬🤬

Yeah I hate it.
My accountant does mine, sends me the calculation and then when I go to pay the figures on my account always differ. Sometimes it can be a few hundred different and I don’t understand why.
My July payment also never makes sense to me.

I actually find it quite good.

The only bad thing is that in the "Tax Calculation" section it does not take into account payments on account. So it often tells you that you need to pay more than you actually do.

If you want to find out how much you actually NEED to pay, go to "Current Position" and it will tell you exactly how much you need to pay and when you need to pay it.

I pay by BACs to Cumbernauld, and this process seems fine to me.

Last year they decided they owed ME £1400!! Not the case - not even remotely the case more like I owed them about £3k.

So I tried to pay what i thought I owed it wouldn't let me. Next thing I know I get a cheque for £1400. I raise a query they eventually tell me it's correct, I told them again it wasn't - they insisted it was. My accountant contacted them to double check - no still insist no mistake at their end.

So I've put what I owed and the £1400 all into premium bonds until they can sort themselves out. At some point thye're sure to want it back. I thought about not putting cheque in the bank but they're so inefficient, they'd probably insist I did..

About to launch into this years effort... I wonder what will happen this time!!

The HMRC app is better for clarity, though I haven't yet used it for payments, which I always do by bank transfer as I know it works.

I agree, but Nadihm, you really can't use evidence gained on mumsnet to plead your case.....