Could you not file an R38 which can be completed online and then mailed in? Though getting the tax code changed would be quicker (maybe, as it's getting somewhat late in the tax year and HMRC are not exactly speedy).
Unless it has all changed, HMRC do not require tax returns to be filed for non-trading companies UNTIL they started trading.
I wrote to HMRC to explain my client's company was not trading and they replied (dated 2007) confirming that since my client's company is dormant, no accounts or tax returns are required. They subsequently issued (in 2010) a form 'Corporation Tax Review' "to decide whether the company should make returns in future". I haven't heard from them since and the company is still dormant.
In other words, write to HMRC and give them the facts. Otherwise just return their mail as "Gone Away", since you say the companies do not exist.
"In my humble view part of it is people who simply do not have the slightest idea of what they are doing, using a very poor tool (mobile phones) to run a business."
And I read a post earlier today from an accountant who, along with his staff, uses his phone to file SA Tax Returns and was complaining that he was being asked every time to enter an authorisation code. Funny. I find it hard enough to use the phone to make a call let alone trying to file a tax return. That ain't never going to happen, baby.
That's so funny. HMRC erroneously returned a client's tax payment (over £4k) as they said he didn't owe them anything. Why did he not owe them anything? Because HMRC processed his 2021 SA tax return and came up with £0.00 tax due. They recorded (online) that the return had been filed but they didn't process any of the income. Unbelieveable . . . or is it? And now I am trying (unsuccessfully) to speak to them to have them fix it and it would not surprise me in slightest if they then charge him interest on "tax paid late" even though he paid on time and they sent it back.
I called last week to discuss a number of HMRC errors on a number of clients, although I never got as far as telling the lady that. Almost as soon as she started talking she told me that unless my query was a general enquiry she would not be able to help as their "systems are down". Really? Not heard that one before. LOL.
I use TaxCalc to prepare and submit my returns. There was an initial requirement to obtain HMRC authorisation to file but nothing since. It has been very simple to file returns. I believe that I may have to get repeat authorisation after 18 months but I may be mistaken. In any event, it was an easy process. I never use a phone to file a return. TBH, I hate mobile phones anyway so try not to use them at all unless I have to. That being said, I did love my flip phone but then, I am a dinosaur.
And I am receiving SA302s from HMRC "correcting" SA Tax Returns where self-employed clients with below threshhold profits, have stated that they want to make voluntary Class 2 NICs and these have been changed to £nil.
And another client ceased trading during 2021/22 whereupon payment of Class 2 NIC should have stopped upon cessation. NIC was calculated for the period of trading but HMRC have sent an SA302 "correcting" the position to a full year's NIC, even though he was no longer self-employed.
I have two clients where HMRC, for some bizarre reason known only to themselves, posted on their website that they had zero tax to pay, when they owed thousands. The clients paid what I had calculated they should pay and HMRC sent it all back. I totally despair.
The SA302s say that I have only 30 days from date of issue to dispute their findings. Some of these notices have taken weeks to arrive and I am really agitated at this continual evidence of HMRC failure to run a decent service. And then I read that they have reduced customer service workforce by some 25%. This is disgraceful.
When I called HMRC last week to discuss all these issues, I was told to call back some other time as "the system was down". Yep. I've heard that one before. An easy get out to not have to deal with issues of their own making.
My answers
HMRC made the payment by BACS, directly into the client's bank account, with no paperwork or otherwise to indicate why the payment was made.
Maybe you are thinking of Equitable Liability? If so, this was replaced in 2011. HMRC link follows. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/self-assessment-claims-manual/s....
Mea culpa. Have now corrected my question. It should have read tax.service.gov.uk. Thanks for picking up on that.
Could you not file an R38 which can be completed online and then mailed in? Though getting the tax code changed would be quicker (maybe, as it's getting somewhat late in the tax year and HMRC are not exactly speedy).
Unless it has all changed, HMRC do not require tax returns to be filed for non-trading companies UNTIL they started trading.
I wrote to HMRC to explain my client's company was not trading and they replied (dated 2007) confirming that since my client's company is dormant, no accounts or tax returns are required. They subsequently issued (in 2010) a form 'Corporation Tax Review' "to decide whether the company should make returns in future". I haven't heard from them since and the company is still dormant.
In other words, write to HMRC and give them the facts. Otherwise just return their mail as "Gone Away", since you say the companies do not exist.
Hope that helps.
"In my humble view part of it is people who simply do not have the slightest idea of what they are doing, using a very poor tool (mobile phones) to run a business."
And I read a post earlier today from an accountant who, along with his staff, uses his phone to file SA Tax Returns and was complaining that he was being asked every time to enter an authorisation code. Funny. I find it hard enough to use the phone to make a call let alone trying to file a tax return. That ain't never going to happen, baby.
That's so funny. HMRC erroneously returned a client's tax payment (over £4k) as they said he didn't owe them anything. Why did he not owe them anything? Because HMRC processed his 2021 SA tax return and came up with £0.00 tax due. They recorded (online) that the return had been filed but they didn't process any of the income. Unbelieveable . . . or is it? And now I am trying (unsuccessfully) to speak to them to have them fix it and it would not surprise me in slightest if they then charge him interest on "tax paid late" even though he paid on time and they sent it back.
I called last week to discuss a number of HMRC errors on a number of clients, although I never got as far as telling the lady that. Almost as soon as she started talking she told me that unless my query was a general enquiry she would not be able to help as their "systems are down". Really? Not heard that one before. LOL.
I use TaxCalc to prepare and submit my returns. There was an initial requirement to obtain HMRC authorisation to file but nothing since. It has been very simple to file returns. I believe that I may have to get repeat authorisation after 18 months but I may be mistaken. In any event, it was an easy process. I never use a phone to file a return. TBH, I hate mobile phones anyway so try not to use them at all unless I have to. That being said, I did love my flip phone but then, I am a dinosaur.
And I am receiving SA302s from HMRC "correcting" SA Tax Returns where self-employed clients with below threshhold profits, have stated that they want to make voluntary Class 2 NICs and these have been changed to £nil.
And another client ceased trading during 2021/22 whereupon payment of Class 2 NIC should have stopped upon cessation. NIC was calculated for the period of trading but HMRC have sent an SA302 "correcting" the position to a full year's NIC, even though he was no longer self-employed.
I have two clients where HMRC, for some bizarre reason known only to themselves, posted on their website that they had zero tax to pay, when they owed thousands. The clients paid what I had calculated they should pay and HMRC sent it all back. I totally despair.
The SA302s say that I have only 30 days from date of issue to dispute their findings. Some of these notices have taken weeks to arrive and I am really agitated at this continual evidence of HMRC failure to run a decent service. And then I read that they have reduced customer service workforce by some 25%. This is disgraceful.
When I called HMRC last week to discuss all these issues, I was told to call back some other time as "the system was down". Yep. I've heard that one before. An easy get out to not have to deal with issues of their own making.