Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

Oh sweet Jesus fuck - tax owed and I can't pay

23 replies

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 22/01/2014 22:59

Just done my tax return. I am a teacher and do some exam marking, hence the need.

I owe £2 grand. I don't have it. I stupidly assumed I was paying enough as exam money has been taxed - but it takes me into the 40% bracket.

I don't have disposable income - everything we earn is accounted for. If I had a spare few grand I wouldn't be doing exam marking in the first place.

I need to ring them tomorrow. What the fuck do I say?

OP posts:
madrose · 22/01/2014 23:02

are you right in your assessment? Check your figures, that seems like a lot of tax to pay for exam marking.

Original poster
YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 22/01/2014 23:04

I've done a lot of marking. DH has done the tax return and has checked and double checked.

OP posts:
bumbumsmummy · 22/01/2014 23:04

It's proportional have you done 40% on the whole amount

MirandaWest · 22/01/2014 23:06

Are you definitely sure you owe that amount? How much did you earn doing marking?

callamia · 22/01/2014 23:07

Don't panic.

I owed two and a half grand that I wasn't expecting (student loan not taken in PAYE). I paid as larger a chunk as I could at once, and then paid the rest in instalments. I was worried about interest, but I paid less than £100 interest in total (and it took almost a year to pay).

Just explain your position (I cried - I don't think this is necessary), and work out a payment plan. It should be ok.

MirandaWest · 22/01/2014 23:07

And what is your teacher salary (feel free to pm me if you'd rather not put it on here). You have put the tax you've paid into the tax return?

Nerfmother · 22/01/2014 23:08

Is the exam money self employed and taxed via your tax code for your teaching job? Taxed separately? Paid gross and you pay the tax at the end of the year (self employed) ?

Piddlepuddle · 22/01/2014 23:10

I would ring them and plead. It is too late really, but beg them to include it in your tax code for the rest of this year and next. They don't have to agree (the deadline to do it was 30 December) but, if you are lucky, and you are nice and patient and polite, you may get someone who agrees to help.

I had a similar situation with a client (albeit a few years ago) and explained the hardship it would cause - HMRC were really very helpful and understanding. You are a bit at the mercy of the person you happen to speak to though.

Good luck.

thenicknameiwantedisgone · 22/01/2014 23:11

Make sure you have a payment plan in mind before you phone them. As big a lump sum as you can then the remainder split into monthly payments.

Triple check your figures first though.

LastOneDancing · 22/01/2014 23:11

Agree that sounds like a LOT of marking...

Have you taken into account that you only pay 40% on the earnings over the 20% cutoff (is that about 40k now?) Apologies if so.

Is this your first year of self assessment? If so, They normally take tax owed by lowering your personal allowance so its repaid over the year - you won't be expected to pay it in a lump unless you chose to.

MirandaWest · 22/01/2014 23:12

If it's like the exam marking my mum and dad do for a school exam board it is taxed at source. I think the op is saying that because she earns near the upper rate of tax band that this has pushed her into the 40% band. But this will be only 20% so you'd need to have done a lot of marking.

HanSolo · 22/01/2014 23:14

You earned £10k for marking? Are you sure?

Nerfmother · 22/01/2014 23:14

So if that's the other 20% that's about £10,000 of marking? Does that sound right op?

thenicknameiwantedisgone · 22/01/2014 23:15

They won't include it in your tax code unless you submitted prior to 30 Dec. Their systems won't allow it, you have to phone debt management.

I tried to plead a few days ago for a client who had filed original return in May then had to amend last week, they couldn't even consuder amending tax code for that as the amendment was filed after 30 Dec despite the original being filed many months ago.

SavoyCabbage · 22/01/2014 23:17

Can you give us the amounts?

MirandaWest · 22/01/2014 23:17

From what my mum and dad say the amount per a level paper is about £2.50 I think. Did you mark thousands of papers?

(I mark but for a different organisation and manage about 1,000 in a year across two large sittings).

sooperdooper · 22/01/2014 23:18

Are you sure, that does seem like a lot, what are the figures for your teaching salary, tax paid already and amount earned on marking

LastOneDancing · 22/01/2014 23:19

Sorry, yes - forgot about the December deadline...

OldDaddy · 23/01/2014 11:57

I'm having the opposite have money stashed away to pay capital gains and am having to wait 6-8 weeks for my UTR code before I can even pay. Meanwhile penalties for missing are £100 for the first day and £10 per day onwards

thenicknameiwantedisgone · 23/01/2014 14:07

OldDaddy - I would write to the tax office and enclose a cheque for the amount owing. Give your NI number and explain the situation.

Then they can't say you haven't paid.

The £10 per day penalty for late tax return filing only applies after 3 months, before that it is just the £100. When did you apply for the UTR? If a few weeks ago then I would say you have 'reasonable excuse' to get the penalty reduced to zero.

Original poster
YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 23/01/2014 17:24

My figures are correct, sadly. Total of salary plus marking is about £52k. I did do an enormous amount of marking.

Decided not to bother pleading with HMRC - whacking it on a 0% credit card is current option.

OP posts:
MirandaWest · 23/01/2014 17:59

Oh bugger - I was hoping you hadn't done as much marking as that. So was it about £10k of marking? At least you'll realise for next time I suppose skthough that's not really very helpful now.

TalkinPeace · 23/01/2014 21:07

OK, stay calm and breathe.

First thing : make sure you pay at least part of it on time.

See if you can pay them at least £100 a fortnight
contact them right away to explain that some of it will be a few weeks late but that you are starting the installments right away.

so long as you show willing - by paying bits - they will just charge you interest (currently 3% per year) so if you pay it all off my April, the interest bill will be around £5

New posts on this thread. Refresh page