Fined £100 by HMRC for not submitting a tax return I was told I didn't need to submit

[Peae]

Last year I rung HMRC and they confirmed I didn't need to submit a tax return for the year ending April 2023. This sent me a reminder around December, so I rung again, and told not to worry about it. It was a general message for people who did and could be safely ignored. I asked if I needed anything in writing, and they said no.
Now I've received a message saying I have a £100 fine for late submission.

Any advice or experience? I feel pretty angry and frustrated, but not a lot I can do now until Tuesday.

Please pay it and then put in an appeal to claim the money back, otherwise, you will be charged a penalty for late payment and this will eventually snowball to much more than £100.

Why are you being asked to submit a tax return in the place? Is it because of your income or job status?

Years ago I did some consultancy alongside PAYE, so had earnings to declare for tax. It’s been a hangover from then. I kept doing the returns until last summer I thought this is silly, I checked, and was told I needn’t.

I spent a total of 18 + hours on the phone and have spoken to 16 people in 3 different departments since they misallocated my Self Assessment Tax payment to a P800 assessment. The P800 should never have been raised because I am on SA.

I have also written two complaint letters which have gone unanswered. Both sent Recorded Delivery.

In desperation and to avoid an automatic fine because my SA account was still showing a liability at 31st January, I paid the Tax again.

Everyone I speak to says it is their error and that I am due a refund, but no one knows how to deal with the issue.

HMRC are totally not fit for purpose and as someone said upthread the power imbalance is totally wrong. Do as we say or we will fine you, but we will totally ignore or gaslight you if we get it wrong.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I’ll phone tomorrow but it looks like the best plan is to complete the appeal form, pay the fine in the meantime and possibly even submit the return telling them all about the PAYE that they already know 😡.

We got a fine and a really horrible threatening letter from HMRC because we hadn't filed a tax return for our late son. We had sent them his death certificate along with a letter explaining that he had lost his job just before he died and had no earnings. We genuinely didn't realise we had to do a return. A heads up in advance would have been helpful. They were really nasty on the phone too.

They're awful.
They accepted my self assessment by message and then lost it! Which is strange as we live abroad and have to use their recommended licensed software, which we pay for.
It took 3 letters, many phone calls and 6 months.
Fortunately one day I got through to a woman who knew exactly what to do and 20 minutes later it was all sorted out.

Oh god, that’s awful @Fredsinthebed . Makes me feel a bit more grateful for my situation.

I'm really sorry to read people's 'horror' stories.

I have found a message in my inbox on their system saying that I no longer have to submit self assessments (after April 2022). It's not completely ambiguous, and I can see that there is a "deregistration" service too. I'll try to speak to an advisor tomorrow and see what they reckon.

Just go on the other lien chat and sort it out it's quicker which is what I did. All sorted out and fine waived.

@tribpot , thanks for the page link. It offers either temporary suspension of tax return for 1 year, or closing my SA account. Does 'not needing to complete tax return' = closing SA account?

My husband has recently had issues with HMRC about a self assessment, including conflicting letters. The incompetence has been unreal.

@Walkacrossthesand I think it does - see this post from the HMRC forums.

If you get a notice to file you still need to complete a tax return or contact hmrc and ask them to withdraw the notice to file. The checker you’ve linked to is for people who haven’t been issued within a notice to file automatically but may need to complete a return

Thanks for that. Back in 2021 they sent me a (paper) letter saying:

We're writing to let you know that the last Self-Assessment (SA) tax return you'll need to complete is for the year ended 5 April 2020.

Yet they still send me emails (like the one I received a couple of weeks ago) saying:

Almost 300,000 customers submitted their tax return in the first week of the tax year

You can join them by submitting your Self Assessment tax return for 2023 to 2024 now and have peace of mind for the rest of the year.

If you have already submitted your tax return, or if you do not need to complete one and have already told us, thank you, please ignore this email. You can also find information below on stopping Self Assessment and unsubscribing to these emails.

Now I've not already submitted a return, nor have I told them that I don't need to complete one (they told me back in 2021). So in those circumstances I use the checker just to be on the safe side.

Checking back on previous years I guess the email above is not an actual 'notice to file', though it does carry the implication that they're expecting you to do something. So far I've just ignored it without any problems.

(I have tried ringing today. The automated service tells me there's a 30 minute wait and then puts the phone down on me!).

Just use the online chat

I agree, it's absolutely unjust and I can't stand that.

Just use the online chat It's no use. I've tried and it's just a bot. Can't get through to a human, can't even wait for a human.

To be fair, in the past when I've got through to someone they've been very human and helpful and friendly and professional. I have hope that if I can speak (or online chat) to a human, they'll sort it in the way some people up thread have had it quickly resolved.

Call at 8am when they open

I had exactly the same OP. I had been wrongly set up with Self assessment by someone who didn't know what they were doing, I thought i'd got it shut down, that was a rigmarole, started getting letters, contacted them every time - and then a fine.....finally got it sorted.

Instead of ringing go on their chat (via the website) at 10am (I think that's when it opens if I remember correctly). Ask your question, it'll give some useless answer and then put in 'speak to advisor'. There may be a 10 minute wait but you should get someone. I found this actually much better than trying to phone. The other thing you could do is contact them through facebook - the people answering on there knew more than by phone or chat! But they might only be able to give advice rather than sort the problem out. They should be able to tell you if you need to pay the fine or not (which if it's anything like me you won't have to).

HMRC are FUCKING useless. I contacted them at least 7 times by phone/facebook and chat trying to resolve this.

You need to put in 'speak to advisor' - found out that gem from HMRC on facebook.

Call at 8am when they open I'm on my commute at 8.

I could aim to get to work early, but ideally I'd have access to my personal laptop and evidence.

You need to put in 'speak to advisor' - found out that gem from HMRC on facebook.

Yes, just answer 'advisor' twice, but it just says no advisors available.

Thank you @Sue152 and @FictionalCharacter it's infuriating!