Just recieved 2018 tax bill, UK

[sunnyboy2018]

A technical error or scam. Contact them using the international number from the government website

[cleopatra2]

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

With the OP being on a state pension, the DWP website says they cannot touch your'e state pension.

I know it's not the DWP the OP is dealing with, I may be wrong, but does this not apply to anyone? Is it not UK law that people must always be left with enough money to live on, and no one can touch your'e state pension?

Cannot touch your pension, I assume you mean where it states that it is not subject to benefit sanctions.

It should be noted that sanction does not equate to repayment . Benefit sanctions are used as a method of punishment for not abiding by the conditions placed upon granting of the benefit. For example a job seeker csn have their benefits reduced or suspended for a period of time if they fail to attend interviews.

The state pension can be suspended as evidenced by pensioners receiving a custodial sentence losing their entitlement to the state pension.

 

[lopburi3]

38 minutes ago, BangkokTony said:

Really? I do hope you are correct. Currently trying to forget at Irish bar in Silom. I will need to go to a quiet place soon.
I went to Gov.uk
Then provided password and verification. Then received 6 figure number via mobile phone

Sent from my SM-G610F using Tapatalk
 

Did you ever provide that mobile phone number during your current password/verification?  You did provide to gov.uk previously? If you did in this contact only you may have have provided a 3rd party access to your gov.uk data.  If this is a possibility try to log on to valid website ASAP to make sure they have not changed your password to prevent access.  You do not want to wait if this is someone stealing your ID.

[Jumbo1968]

HMRC as has been said could have been sending tax return forms out asking you about income as you never completed them they have sent estimates.

Trying to get through to HMRC, they are open Sundays as well.

There are scam emails re HMRC but they usually say you are entitled for a rebate and to enter your Bank details.

 

[AlfUK]

Relax.   I very much doubt you owe this amount of tax.  All UK Goverment agencies share information.  It is likely your name has been flagged up because you have not filed a tax return.  HMRC would then look on their database and see you are in receipt of a UK State pension.  You have not declared you are no longer resident in the UK.  As far as the HMRC is concerned you are in the UK and you must file a tax return unless you have an arrangement with the HMRC that your pension is your sole income and below the threshold that you start to pay tax.  So a common ploy by the HMRC is to send a tax demand outragously high that makes you panick so that you then contact them.  That is exactly what has happened to you.  HMRC hate it when they are ignored so my advice is to contact them immediately, by phone, and explain the situation. 

I doubt you will pay any tax on the figures you mentioned. 

However, on the down side, the UK Pension department will then want to contact you, Why? You are collecting a UK state pension and as such must declare you are living abroad. Your Pension will then be frozen at the amout you left the the UK.  In other words, your state pension will remain the same and not receive any increases.

I hope this helps

[evadgib]

Avoid and report internet scams and phishing

Report misleading websites, emails, phone numbers, phone calls or text messages you think may be suspicious.

Do not give out private information (such as bank details or passwords), reply to text messages, download attachments or click on any links in emails if you’re not sure they’re genuine.

Misleading websites, emails and phone numbers

Some websites, emails or phone numbers can look like they’re part of an official government service or that they provide more help than they actually do.

(more here...)

https://www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails-websites-phishing 

 

[evadgib]

 

The UK is leading the world in the fight against illicit finance, according to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) report published today (Friday 7 December 2018).

FATF, the global standard-setter for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, gave the UK its highest possible rating for measures including how the UK tackles terrorist financing, and its use of financial sanctions against terrorists. This means out of the 60 countries assessed, the UK has one of the toughest anti-money laundering regimes in the world; stronger than any other country assessed to date.

John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister said:

There is absolutely no place for dirty money or the people that launder it in our country, so I am incredibly proud that today’s report confirms that the UK has one of the strongest regimes in the world for deterring these criminals.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-takes-top-spot-in-fight-against-dirty-money

 

(Not entirely related, but I found it while looking for the first link)

[Suradit69]

6 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Have no idea how your tax system works but makes no sense to me - all payments due same day which is prior to end of the year payment is for?  Are you sure this is from official sources?

6 hours ago, BangkokTony said:

I received an e mail.  I went to HMRC.gov.uk.  Used my sign in info with password.  Received a text via mobile phone.  Logged in. Everything seems legitimate.

I'm not British and have received a couple of emails from HMRC about my supposed taxes.

 

I forwarded them both to [email protected] and received emails back agreeing that they were scams ... obviously I knew that, but just forwarded them to try putting the scammers out of business ...  but O/P why not try that with your email and see what sort of response you get.

[lungbing]

OP, is it possible that you put the whole of your Nationwide savings down as income, rather than just the interest thereon? Did you keep a copy of your paper return?

[pastprime]

HMRC  have ways of scaring you shitless,but it does sound as if you were self employed and did not sign off when you finished,just figures from thin air ,but whoever in tax dept is looking at your case files will get brownie points depending on how much he/she can raise from individuals.  They cannot touch your OAP,and  keep to a UK address or get PO box address in Spain or elsewhere in the EU  avoid frozen pension at all cost

[Surasak]

3 hours ago, possum1931 said:

With the OP being on a state pension, the DWP website says they cannot touch your'e state pension.

I know it's not the DWP the OP is dealing with, I may be wrong, but does this not apply to anyone? Is it not UK law that people must always be left with enough money to live on, and no one can touch your'e state pension?

Not exactly true. Your state pension is included as income and if the income is over £11850, current amount, then you are taxed on the amount over that figure.

To my knowledge, no one would get a DWP pension of this amount. Aslo, Nationeide Building Society would deduct tax on any interest before paying said interest. I am sure this is a scam email. I would suggest, as others have stated, contact the HMRC direct via phone. Look up their phone details seperatly from the email received.

[lagavulin1]

7 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Have no idea how your tax system works but makes no sense to me - all payments due same day which is prior to end of the year payment is for?  Are you sure this is from official sources?

This bit is correct as per HMRC rules. The amounts look bizarre.

[Jonathan Swift]

Couldn't you phone up a tax lawyer using skype or other free phone app and get a few minutes of free advice? That's what I would do. But certainly call your own tax department.  If they can go after your pension you need to be careful.  I'm American and the only thing about the British tax system I know is through Beatles songs,  haha. Then there was something about a tea party in Boston a few hundred years ago, was that tax related? 555  You have my sympathy living on what you do, I live in Bangkok and have up to now considered my $1300 a month US gov't disability to be a very  slim margin of existence (it certainly is where I'm from - I'm considered indigent . and am not even required to file a return). Best of luck to you, I'm sure it will be OK if you play your cards right. 

[lagavulin1]

Not sure of Timings but get yourself an account on Gov.UK site specifically for pension. It's easy to follow and you can force changes by correcting numbers you think are wrong.

When you've got the account fill in a self declaration form and submit it.

Your PAYE tax and self declaration tax (income from eg house rent income are treated differently. 

It sounds complicated but you'll soon get to know what's what.

It's as good a direct line to HMRC as you'll get. I've saved 6K so far 

 

PS. I've not read all the replies. If this is covered elsewhere that's life --)

 

Have you checked your UK tax residency status ? Search the You Gov website for a calculator to check if you are required to pay tax at all. This is based on days in UK over last few years not earnings 

Edited December 7, 2018 by lagavulin1
Inspiratuon.

[Briggsy]

1 minute ago, Jonathan Swift said:

Couldn't you phone up a tax lawyer using skype or other free phone app and get a few minutes of free advice? That's what I would do. But certainly call your own tax department.  If they can go after your pension you need to be careful.  I'm American and the only thing about the British tax system I know is through Beatles songs,  haha. Then there was something about a tea party in Boston a few hundred years ago, was that tax related? 555  You have my sympathy living on what you do, I live in Bangkok and have up to now considered my $1300 a month US gov't disability to be a very  slim margin of existence (it certainly is where I'm from - I'm considered indigent . and am not even required to file a return). Best of luck to you, I'm sure it will be OK if you play your cards right. 

There is no need for this OP to have a "tax lawyer". His tax affairs are very straightforward The HMRC in the UK is very approachable. Phone them up, identify yourself and present your query. You will have your answer. If the OP is completely incompetent (he doesn't seem so) any high street accountant (professional body registered is far better) could act on his behalf.

[Enoon]

49 minutes ago, Surasak said:

Not exactly true. Your state pension is included as income and if the income is over £11850, current amount, then you are taxed on the amount over that figure.

 

 

There is a £5000 starting rate savings interest allowance for those whose pension/earnings is at or below £11850.

 

Every 1£ from pensions/earnings over £11850 is taxed and reduces it by another pound.

 

ie £11860 from pensions/earnings = £4990 savings interest not subject to tax.

 

Thus someone with £10000 pension/earnings income and £6000 savings interest income (£16000 total) pays no tax at all.

 

https://www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings

 

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by Enoon

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, cleopatra2 said:

Cannot touch your pension, I assume you mean where it states that it is not subject to benefit sanctions.

It should be noted that sanction does not equate to repayment . Benefit sanctions are used as a method of punishment for not abiding by the conditions placed upon granting of the benefit. For example a job seeker csn have their benefits reduced or suspended for a period of time if they fail to attend interviews.

The state pension can be suspended as evidenced by pensioners receiving a custodial sentence losing their entitlement to the state pension.

 

Yes, you're last paragraph is true, but that is going off topic, nobody is on about OAPs in prison.

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, Surasak said:

Not exactly true. Your state pension is included as income and if the income is over £11850, current amount, then you are taxed on the amount over that figure.

To my knowledge, no one would get a DWP pension of this amount. Aslo, Nationeide Building Society would deduct tax on any interest before paying said interest. I am sure this is a scam email. I would suggest, as others have stated, contact the HMRC direct via phone. Look up their phone details seperatly from the email received.

I think you know what I mean.

[Pdavies99]

I will put odds on it, that the poster clicked on the email sent to him and what purports to be HMRC is not, I doubt that HMRC would have emailed him this at all, but I guess you never know!!

[Pdavies99]

34 minutes ago, Benroon said:

He signed onto the gateway independently <deleted> !! How many times does he have to say this ?

Is he sure he actually signed on the gateway?    HMRC.Gov.uk maybe is not the correct address...

 

1st December in Daily Telegraph

Gareth Lloyd, head of digital security at HMRC, said: "HMRC never contacts customers who have a tax charge via email - we always send a letter through the post.

"If you receive an email claiming to be from HMRC, please send it to [email protected] and then delete it permanently. We can, and do, close these websites down, and do all we can to ensure taxpayers stay safe online by working with law enforcement agencies around the world to target the criminals behind these scams."

HMRC strongly advises customers who receive such an email to check the advice published at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/index.htm where examples of these fake emails are listed.

People should not click on websites or links contained in suspicious emails or open attachments. Anyone who has answered one of these emails should forward the email and disclosed details to [email protected].

[paulsingle]

As others have said, forward the email to [email protected]

You will then have confirmation within about 48 hours of whether it is a scam email or not.

They are getting more and more sophisticated and convincing. I've had about a dozen over the past couple of months. The reply is always as below:

Thank you for letting us know about the suspicious email / text you have received. We can confirm that this is a scam, and was not issued by HMRC.

Our specialist team will investigate and take the necessary action. Whilst we cannot inform you of the outcome of these investigations I can confirm that we do act on each submission we receive.

HMRC will never send notifications of a tax refund or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email or text message.

If following receipt of a HMRC related e-mail / text scam you have disclosed:

*       Personal information such as password/user ID;
*       credit/debit card information or
*       have reason to believe your computer has been exposed to a virus
       
Please forward a report to us at: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>   

If you have disclosed credit/debit card information you should inform your bank/card issuer immediately.

Emails / texts such as the one you received are issued in huge numbers and sent indiscriminately. We recommend that you use up to date spam filters and continually update your computers anti-spyware and anti-virus software. 

In common with all providers of online services, HMRC takes security very seriously but you need to be alert.

We continuously monitor systems and customer records to guard against fraudulent activity.  The methods fraudsters use to get the information they want is constantly changing so we provide regular updates on the types of scams we are aware of.  The main risk is identity or user ID and password theft.  Please ensure that you keep your user ID and passwords secure and change your passwords regularly. 

HMRC publicises details of current scams on our website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phishing-and-bogus-emails-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples

 
Please continue to forward all suspicious HMRC related e-mails / texts to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>  Alternatively, you can forward HMRC related scam text messages to 60559.

Regards,

HMRC Online Security Team

The information in this e-mail and any attachments is confidential and may be subject to legal professional privilege. Unless you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this message or any part of it. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately.

 

HM Revenue & Customs computer systems will be monitored and communications carried on them recorded, to secure the effective operation of the system and for lawful purposes.

 

The Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs are not liable for any personal views of the sender.

 

This e-mail may have been intercepted and its information altered.

 

Edited December 8, 2018 by paulsingle

[Andycoops]

On 12/7/2018 at 1:23 PM, SheungWan said:

Based on the info you have provided, it does look way out. I would phone them in the first instance. 

Don't phone, write and then you have a record of correspondence.

[Andycoops]

14 hours ago, Pdavies99 said:

I will put odds on it, that the poster clicked on the email sent to him and what purports to be HMRC is not, I doubt that HMRC would have emailed him this at all, but I guess you never know!!

In my experience HMRC only send this sort of correspondence by snail mail. Not email.

[Briggsy]

OP has not checked in recently. We will have to wait for an update which may never come.

[sandyf]

On 12/7/2018 at 3:19 PM, BangkokTony said:

I sent my tax return late September. I provided full information although I might not have understood the questions fully.
My circumstances are.
Living in Thailand 12 years
Living on funds accrued in Nationwide bank. I transfer every 2 years to Thailand.
Interest declared from Nationwide
I believe best to be honest then nothing can, hopefully, go wrong. But now I have stress to deal with HMRC from afar.
Already sent letter via Post Office.
Thankfully I have 7 weeks to sort it out, Jan 31 being the deadline.


Sent from my SM-G610F using Tapatalk
 

It sounds like you sent a paper return so I would agree with a previous poster that you left it too late.

If you sent it by some sort of recorded delivery then you should use the tracking to find out if it has actually been delivered. If it has gone astray you are getting a bit tight for another paper return and may well have to look at submitting online.

I would suggest that you think about doing as I have done. Get a UK address from a postal service and then you can submit your tax return using the HMRC website as it stands. The Inland Revenue have my Thai address but I requested that they use the UK address as a correspondence address. Been working that way for around 7 years without a problem.

[BangkokTony]

UPDATE.    I have called the helpline 20 minutes ago. No waiting in the phone queue. Spoke to a guy who was very helpful.  He said that I inserted 8296 pounds in the wrong box, ie tax underpaid (although I am sure I did not do so).

He went to my to my account and removed the erroneous figure and 5 minutes later said I owe Zero tax.  I was overjoyed because I have felt very stressful for the last 30 hours. 

I am wondering if to find an accountant to fill in my tax return next year.  But for sure I will fill it in during the summer so there is time to rectify. 

Thanks for your support; it really helped that people backed me up and confirmed that it was a wrong calculation.

[BangkokTony]

19 hours ago, Benroon said:

a) you're a little behind the times with this interweb thingy - you can choose to go no brown envelopes now and b) HMRC now ALWAYS ask for monies on account - its a scam having to pay up front on monies you haven't earnt yet but that's what they do

 

Apart from that you're 0% correct ????

I received an e.mail that asked me to go online and view their assessment.  I logged on with password etc and I can confirm it was MY account.

However, I have good news. it has been reviewed and I was told I put  the pension figure in the wrong box..hmmmm

Zero tax to pay.  Customer service was first class.  I have given an update on this topic.

[mickyboy]

i be very carefull about fraud here and if its really them

[sometimewoodworker]

12 hours ago, BangkokTony said:

UPDATE.    I have called the helpline 20 minutes ago. No waiting in the phone queue. Spoke to a guy who was very helpful.  He said that I inserted 8296 pounds in the wrong box, ie tax underpaid (although I am sure I did not do so).

He went to my to my account and removed the erroneous figure and 5 minutes later said I owe Zero tax.  I was overjoyed because I have felt very stressful for the last 30 hours. 

I am wondering if to find an accountant to fill in my tax return next year.  But for sure I will fill it in during the summer so there is time to rectify. 

Thanks for your support; it really helped that people backed me up and confirmed that it was a wrong calculation.

You have a private message waiting for you to read.

[KittenKong]

16 hours ago, sandyf said:

I would suggest that you think about doing as I have done. Get a UK address from a postal service and then you can submit your tax return using the HMRC website as it stands. The Inland Revenue have my Thai address but I requested that they use the UK address as a correspondence address. Been working that way for around 7 years without a problem.

But if you file online you cant benefit from the various exemptions available for non-residents, as the non-resident declaration is paper-only (or via expensive software).