Do i need to fill in a tax return ?

[SimonV8ster]

Ok, i have completed my return and got it into a shape which looks correct and understandable, the figures are what i thought they should be.

When it shows me what i owe for 2013-2014 (about 3.5k) it also asks for '1st payment on account for 2014-2015' which is 50% of the above. As i have not worked here or abroad this year and will not i don't obviously want to pay this and then have to wait until next year to sort it out.

How do i/can i get around this ? It is automatically adding it to the total owed ?

[SimonV8ster]

Ok, i've now found the 'Payments on account' field and entered zero and its not asking for any money for 2014-2015 - yippee !! ( which will be correct as my only income will be my rent which puts me under the 10K threshold).

[Eric Mc]

The Payment on Account is an "estimate" of your next year's self assessment tax bill based on last year's self assessment tax bill. If you are certain that the next year bill is going to be lower than last year's bill, you have the option to reduce the Payments on Account to a more appropriate figure. This figure can be "Nil" if you are confident that the self assessment tax bill for next year will be Nil.

If you get it wrong and reduce the Payments on Account by too much, HMRC will charge you interest on the underpaid Payments on Account when it comes to the time when you have to pay the actual tax bill for next year.