tax arrears

by **sw49** on Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:12 pm

I am a pensioner who moved to Spain in 1999 not long after moving I was given a tax rebate (I always paid PAYE) and owed nothing I received this rebate and carried on with my life. This week 12 years later I have received a letter saying that I owe a tax bill which amounts to 2247 pounds, my rebate was 850 pounds and I had according to them paid approx 450 pounds back,the rest is interest etc. I have lived off my savings for 12 years never paid tax(not liable) and received my pension in Feb this year and now pay a small amount of uk tax, they have not communicated with me, nothing until this letter, I have written a letter to them but would like to know how they can do this after 12 years.

by **section 44** on Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:45 pm

sw49 wrote:I have written a letter to them but would like to know how they can do this after 12 years.

The law enables them to do so if there has been fraud or negligence.

by **mullet** on Tue Nov 29, 2011 6:21 pm

A bit more background please.

Which year?
Is it for employment income (PAYE) or were you self employed?
Is it a tax calculation as such, or just a statement of account showing the amount owing?
Did you tell HMRC of your new address and complete a P85 when you left the UK?

by **mullet** on Wed Nov 30, 2011 6:44 pm

This is the response from the OP which was PM'd to me.

I was paying PAYE before leaving England apparently this was a refund and i retired on a small pension which did not qualify for tax. I have lived on my savings until this year totally unaware that this debt was outstanding and the taxman knew my address they sent us the cheque by post, we moved after a few years and because we were unaware we didn't advise them of our new address as we thought we had no reason to. We did not fill in a p85 but my address was always available to them from my ex employer British gas who sent a p60 to me every year. They said that this was a statement of tax the debt is just over 450 pounds and they have inflated it with 12 years interest etc.Thanks for your reply

My response/advice - contact HMRC and ask what it's all about. I'm afraid that you won't get that answer from this forum.