How much trouble am I in with the taxman...?

[Notusuallythisdaft]

Hello,

I have just been checking through my self-assessment records and have realised that I owe the taxman some money from 2008.

Very briefly: I finished my last full time job in Feb 2008, got married, went on honeymoon for a month, moved house and registered as self-employed in April 2008. But, I have just realised that I did a quick freelance job for a friend immediately before I got married - I totally forgot this when I registered as self-employed so not only have I not paid my tax on this money, but I earnt it before I registered as self-employed.

I am going to call HMRC tomorrow to see what the deal is but I wondered if anyone can tell me what to expect. I can pay the tax I owe and interest from 2008 as soon as they want me to but I'm worried I'm going to get fined as well.

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Thank you for reading.

You tell them that you have been checking your records and have found you inadvertently did not pay enough tax in 2008.

Tell them you wil write to them and set out what was undeclared and over what months it was earned and they will send you a bill after recalculating the tax you owed in 2008. They will add interest.

I have done it several times for small amounts as I have a complex tax situation.

Have had a quick look for you, if you notify them of an error without them asking the penalty can range from 0% to 30% of the amount not paid, so you might not have to pay any penalty at all. You might have to pay late payment interest though. It seems that you have taken action as soon as you realised your mistake and intend to co-operate with HMRC and pay the money owing asap, so I would think any penalty would be low.

[[http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/new-penalties/new-penalties.pdf inaccurate return penalty info

failure to notify of self employemnt penalty info

sorry try again

inaccurate return info

failure to notify info

Thank you both, that's reassuring!

I totally appreciate I might have to pay a penalty on top of the original amount and interest as I've been a dufus but I am a bit nervous of a whopping fine.

ObamaSelf, thanks so much for checking, that is v kind. I can cope with a 30% penalty as the amount is actually quite small ... and hopefully I might get off with less than that.

Thank you again!

That'snotmybabybelly, thank you, that's very helpful!