At first I was confused, then Inlooked through my files and found notices demanding tax returns dated to 2nd July. Bugger. My mum was staying around that time so must have 'tidied' them away amongst a pile of less important letters. I know that's no excuse and I'm an idiot for being so careless, but my summer has been busy and shit.
I am in serious trouble. As well as about 2k of personal debt I have a maxed out credit card and overdraft. I am struggling to live as it is, minimal food, heating etc.
I was trying to turn my life around. I have a new job, new relationship, and things were starting to improve slowly. In the past I have sold myself for money but being in a relationship that is no longer an option, never mind the mental impact it was having.
I just don't know what to do. I have nowhere to go and no one to help me. I want to be dead.
Is there any way I can sort this out without paying? Sorry for the emo-sequel thread, I just don't know what to do.
>>5861 So, £100 plus £10 per day, eh? That'll be around £HOLYSHITTHATSALOTOFMONEY.
Yeah, you're going to need to pay a visit to a CAB or a Law Centre, because while they may agree to a properly-negotiated payment plan (where you will be utterly fucked if you don't make your payments bang on time), they will definitely want paying, and since you're not a multi-billion multi-national with cash stashed in the Caribbean they'll want the full amount. Also, if you're in steady employment, ask about coming off SA. They might not let you, since the rules say that once you get a tax return they're entitled to give you one every year in perpetuity, but it's worth a try. Or, for viewers in Scotland, a penalty.
In future you can sign yourself for HMRC email reminders. They're pretty helpful because they're insistent - unlike a solitary letter which can easily be overlooked or even lost in the post.
>>5868 Would you assume that an email from your bank was a scam? I pay all my bills online and receive only e-statements from all my bank accounts and credit card providers.
The key thing here is that the fines are only valid if you actually owe them any tax for that period. If you can demonstrate that you didn't earn enough to owe them anything, then the fines will also be written off. Very similar thing happened to me a few years ago.
Fill in your returns like a good citizen, and make sure your income doesn't tip you over the threshold. Oh, and tidy your own room. Oh, and credit cards are for mugs.
The best thing about the phrase "neither a borrower nor a lender be" is how so many people who repeat it are unaware of the source. It's from Hamlet, and is uttered by Polonius, a bloviater "regarded as wrong in every judgement he makes over the course of the play".
>>5879 Very true. If he'd got the quote right I'd have suggested he pop behind the arras for a moment. It seems appropriate that the kind of people who smugly quote it in ignorance are essentially Polonius types themselves.
You are a perfect example of a little knowledge being a very dangerous (and in this case a Granddad Worried About Being Defrauded level hilarious) thing.
I get email and text updates telling me when e-statements are ready all the time. Then again, if you can't tell a phishing email from a legitimate one then maybe e-banking just isn't for you.
> The key thing here is that the fines are only valid if you actually owe them any tax for that period. If you can demonstrate that you didn't earn enough to owe them anything, then the fines will also be written off.
Sadly this so much tosh. The late filing fines are for failing to file your return in a timely manner, they aren't interest on unpaid tax. The fines apply equally to you even if you owe no tax or even if you earned no money at all during that tax year.
OP can appeal against the fines, and HMRC are supposedly being quite lenient with appeals as these new levies are being rolled out. It's worth a shot anyway.
>>5881 I think someone posted about how phishing emails are deliberately composed so that only the most moronic of people will actually fall for them, because it saves the scammer a lot of wasted effort.
>>5882 Not quite. Once an operation is set up, straight-up phishing doesn't require much attention, if any at all. You're thinking of 419s, where the scammers actually have to interact with their marks.
>>5881>>5882 In the past few years, I've seen phishing emails becoming more and more convincing.
But I think it's more to do with an arms race against spam filters than it is to do with trying to target more people.
>>5881 What do you think the beast approach to appealing would be? Asking for pity and explain how dire my life is, or lie and say I didn't recieve them?
Now today I have been underpaid by £400. Someone up there is having a jolly laugh at my expense.
>>5885 Pity might work, although when I tried something similar, they didn't give a shit. Lying won't really work because it's the same as "Sorry officer, I didn't see the speed limit sign."
Phishing emails work, by their very nature, my bating you into clicking links to false sites or opening booby-trapped documents (PDF or MS-WORD, generally). Notification emails from banks, HMRC etc will never have link or attached documents - for obvious reasons. They are really quite easy to tell apart from a phishing email. Here, let me post you the last one I got:
--
New message
Hi MR ******* ,
You have a new message from HMRC.
To view it - sign in to your HMRC online account.
A link isn't included for security reasons.
Why you got this email:
You chose to replace Self Assessment letters with digital messages.
We have started to send emails to tell you when you have messages in your account.
From HMRC Self Assessment
To stop your email reminders - sign in to your HMRC online account.
--
Ideally you need something from the "Reasonable Excuse" list I pasted above. Failing that you should talk to your doctor and try to work out some kind of mental health "I was having a really wobbly year and was unable to cope with even the most basic tasks" kind of line. It's not specifically listed but medical dispensation is probably your most likely bet.
>>5887 I can still easily tell what is a phishing email. By "more convincing" I just mean that the emails I've been seeing are containing fewer obvious tell-tale signs, like grammatical or spelling errors, unreadable email addresses etc. I'm even beginning to see ones which seem to copy the formatting of genuine emails from the company exactly, but just include an attachment which shouldn't be there.
