Help! Anyone with knowledge of self assessment for interest on savings? I shall try and make this simple.

[MadamClench]

I have to complete a Self Assessment tax return for the first time. Things like this make me anxious in case I do the wrong thing.

In the process of gathering together/ordering the savings statements for the last year I've been sent an email from a savings account I'd forgotten I had which has no money in it now because I moved savings from it in summer of last year.
But - I had it since 2013 and since 2015 I have not declared the interest because I just hadn't picked up that Self assessment had been introduced for people with savings (I was PAYE when working).

As there wasn't/isn't much money in it the most interest I earned in any one year is about £80 or so and sometimes as little as 3p.

I have tried calling HMRC but it's impossible to speak to someone now as they've got a clever screening thing which, unless you say the right thing (which for me would be the wrong thing, IYSWIM) you get redirected to the online Self assessment site. Which DOESN'T tell me what to do or how much trouble I'm in.

Can anyone tell me (in simple and general terms) whether I'm in trouble/how to resolve it or what I can do to sort it out please?
TYIA

Was it an ISA?

Did you earn interest (from all accounts) over the annual limit each year? For example this year is 500 lower rate tax payers. 1000 higher rate tax payers. If your income is under 17570 this is different but I am assuming over 20k salary. I do not know the rates for the years you mention but you can Google.

Did the interest push you into a different tax band?

The interest doesn't affect the tax bracket, personally I would t worry about it, the amounts are very small and so long ago that no I e is going to be worried labour a tiny bit of tax even if any was due

My understanding is it CAN affect the tax bracket and people get caught out by this.

If the interest you earn from all taxable savings accounts pushed you into 40% tax band the amount of savings interest you could earn tax free is reduced. So if you earn 50k but the interest in total was £1000 you would be taxed on the savings over £500 at 40% even though you are a lower rate taxpayer on your earned income? This may not affect many but it’s not uncommon for people to keep their income under 50k for child benefit reasons.

This is taken from MSE as they give a working example:

‘’To work this out, you first must add up your income from work and income from earned savings interest to get your total income. If that total income puts you in the higher-rate band (starts at £50,270 in 2024/25), then you are a higher-rate taxpayer and you only get the £500 of personal savings allowance (similarly for those at the additional-rate threshold – you wouldn't get the personal savings allowance at all).
Let's do an example...
The higher rate of tax starts on income above £50,270 (in the 2024/25 tax year). You earn £50,269 plus have £1,000 in savings interest. As your total income including interest is above the higher-rate threshold, you'll only get the £500 personal savings allowance. So £500 of your interest would be tax-free, while the remaining £500 would be taxed at the higher rate.’’

thank you to those who've responded.
@Myopicglass not an ISA, no.
I don't think the interest has pushed me into a different tax band because my annual income is only just over £23,000 before tax.

But, due to me inheriting my Dad's estate last year and selling my house, I temporarily had alot of money in my bank account for a few months before I bought the house I am in now (it was delayed by some 4 months so in the meantime the interest was being paid out). In the meantime I maxed out my ISA entitlement for last year and have just opened another one.

But it all means I have definitely got to submit an SA form because of the interest I earned on the sums that were in my account for that time (and some still, now) albeit by my calculations I'm only just over the line with that. I don't have an issue with paying tax I owe per se.

However I realised today that last year was the ONLY year in which I've had anything like enough to make a self assessment (and that is by HMRC's own pre questionnaire which asks quite specific questions). So i don't think I'll be hauled off to court any time soon but it has opened my eyes to the need to stay on top of finances going forward. Hope that makes sense.

And re: inheritance tax etc, all was handled by my Dad's solicitors who handled probate.

Yes your personal savings allowance, does impact your tax brackets.

Yes they will be worried, failure to notify HMRC carries fines.

Not to be alarming, but failing to submit would be more damaging

How much interest did you actually earn in the tax year

@PickledPurplePickle £10,300

You are not in any trouble. Sounds as though the only year you have gone over your savings allowance is last year, as you already know. You would have had £1,000 personal savings allowance from 2016/17 so your small amounts of interest are easily within this. Before 2016/17 the tax was already deducted before being paid to you.