Online Self Assessment basic advice please :)

[MsS]

Hello all - new to the forum & looking for a little basic advice.

I have all my accounts ready to file my self assessment (self employed) online.

I don't earn massive amounts but last year on top of my £5k earnings recieved £3200 as a gift. Do I need to delare this as earned income or just the £200 over the £3k gift limit?

Also when declaring pensiosn payments do I just add up how much my annual premiums come to?

Sorry if it all seems a bit daft but I don't want to mess it up

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[robbob]

Hello MsS

No need to declare gifts on your tax return - presuming the gift has no connection with your self employment/employment income.

Re pension payments.
Presuming you have made the payments net of tax relief (I.e they are not deducted from your gross employment income) then you simply enter the amounts paid between 6/4/2009 and 5/4/2010 inclusive.
Just be carfeul to ensure you enter the Gross or Net amount as requested.

They amount you physically pay is the net amount.
The Gross amount including tax credit with be the net amount divided by 0.8 (this is the same as the net amount * 100 divided by 80)

[Incredulum]

Whom was the "gift" from, and why did you receive it?

[tonycourt]

Hi MsS,

I thought the earlier two responses to your question needed a little clarification.

There's nothing wrong at all with what Robbob says. The £3K you refer to in your question is the Inheritance Tax (IHT) annual exemption and has nothing to do with declarations on your income and capital gains tax return. As the recipient of a gift you won't have to worry about the IHT side of things either unless the donor dies within seven years of making the gift. Even then essentially it's a matter for their executors to worry about - in short forget about the gift.

I see where Incredulum was going with his line of questioning. He or she is concerned that the £3,200 may not be a genuine gift, in other words there are strings attached. For example someone might say here’s £3,200 as a gift but I want you to clean my windows free of charge for a year, that sort of thing. That’s not a gift it’s a deal and would have income tax consequences. A true gift has no such quid pro quo and so only has relevance for IHT purposes.

As far as the pension premiums go Robbob is spot on again

I hope this helps

[MsS]

Thank you for the advice - much clearer now .
(The gift was a genuine treat from a very generous friend to pay for a holiday to visit them).