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The actual interest owed is £200, but they have added something and I'm trying to work out what it is. I have paid them £6800, but only £6700 is showing as paid. I called them today and the guy couldn't see the discrepancy, it was incredibly frustrating.
I request to reduce my payments on account to zero every year, because yes my income is erratic. Sometimes I earn most of my income in 6 months, then live off it while I make art, which may or may not sell. Income varies between 20-40k. If I made these payments on account I would not be able to invest in potential projects, tools or workshop space. This is the first year they have refused my request, and I didn't realise, so here I am.
I've also had a spinal injury which cost about £3k for an operation, and chronic pain since then, so maybe they're not cunts but the whole thing feels unfair.
William.-
If I made these payments on account I would not be able to invest in potential projects, tools or workshop space
We could all do more useful things with the money, but I'm not sure why you expect an interest free loan from the rest of us to finance your projects
the whole thing feels unfair
Outside of the many unfairnesses included in the tax code for the benefit of the ruling class, why is it fair for the rest of us low income sole traders to make our payments on account but for you not to?
I'm as bad at budgeting for tax payments as the next man, but the fundamentals of Self Assessment have been with us for a quarter of a century, so it's my fault if there isn't money in the bank when the bills fall due and I have to borrow on the commercial market.
gbj_tester
Your payments on account are tax due on earnings you have already received, so it's not "in advance" unless for some reason you have negligible revenue from April 6th to January 31st and then make it all up in the remaining nine weeks.
AFAIK, the only way legitimately to avoid payments on account is to demonstrate an annual tax liability of under £1k. If you asked them to reduce your payments on account (possibly to zero, but other options are available) based on an expectation of reduced profits compared with the previous year but then showed similar or higher profits in your return, they are not really being cunts when they imply (by way of interest on "missed" payments) that you should have made the payments on account.
£300 seems like a lot of interest for an annual liability of £6k, have they given you a penalty too or does that figure cover more than one year?