Self Assessment Tax Return - rebate help!

[Lu28]

We lived in Ireland for 11 months last year and for some reason the Inland Revenue have decided that we needed to fill in a tax return for DH. I did it online in January. When it came to entering the foreign income element, it just had a dialogue box to enter the details, not those boxes that add the income into their calculations.

At the end, it said we were due a rebate of £550 - that's great but it didnt take the foreign income element into account. We've now received a letter confirming this.

I'm thinking of putting the money into a separate account because I'm convinced they'll ask for it back at some stage. Does anyone know if they also check the online returns in person and how long they have before asking you to repay the rebate?

Thanks

 

[MrsRH]

I'd call them and just query it.
If they find out about the error they will ask for it back and may add interest (they shouldn't if it's their fault!!) But the tax man are known for being sneeky
at least you know where you stand
they hand check a selection so you may be lucky or unlucky!
x

 

[Bmary83]

At the end, it said we were due a rebate of £550 - that's great but it didnt take the foreign income element into account. We've now received a letter confirming this.


Thanks

Hi ya, I'm an accountant but I'm a bit confused here. U say they u've received a letter confirming that the foreign income element wasn't included? Who was the letter from? The Inland Revenue? If so, as soon as they realised they missed the income they would have immediately adjusted the tax calculation and another could potentailly be on its way to u now?

Also, don't forget, when u include the foreign income, u can also claim a credit for the tax that you've paid in the foreign country so that you aren't paying tax on the same income twice. So just make sure u've claimed included that on the return.

U can make an amendment to your return for up to a year after the filing deadline and as far as I remember(tho I wud double check on their website) the Revenue have the same amount of time to enquire into your return also.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lu28]

No the letter we got just said that we had a rebate due to us. It was the online system that somehow decided that we didn't need to fill in any more detail about the foreign income other than the bit included in the dialogue box.

 

[Bmary83]

Hmmm....seems a wee bit strange, normally the return would ask for details for all income earned, if your a UK resident, regardless of where the income was earned. So I thinkg you're right that they've missed something here. If during the course of my job I discovered this was the case for a client, I would get in touch with HMRC to get it fixed to the correct amount!
Sorry, I know thats not the answer you want but then again I may be wrong, as I haven't done a tax return in a while. For peace of mind I would phone them tho.