pwhite8314

I just got my reminder in the mail (dated Dec 18, arrived Jan 24!) that I have to file a return for the 2009/10 tax year. So, I dug out my login details, but I think the HMRC site is telling me I cannot use their Self-Assessment tool to file, as it say that if I was....

•non-resident or non-domiciled in the UK

Then I have use commercial software. It goes on to explain the above bullet:

If you consider yourself, for all or part of the year to 5 April 2010, to be a non-UK resident, not ordinarily resident or non-domiciled in the UK and claiming the remittance basis, or dual resident in the UK and another country, fill in the 'Non-residence etc' pages.

If you want to file online, you will need to use commercial software.

Is this really the case? I've been in the US the entire year, and have no UK earnings too declare, aside from (maybe!) about 3 quid in interest from a savings account.

It seems a tad silly to have to buy some software to enter straight zeros. Of course, I have tried to call them, but they're very busy, and the system just cuts me off rather than letting me sit in the queue.

Pete

MsElui

we used this bunch in the end.

http://www.sa2000.co.uk/

cost £11.99 to file electronically. You download the file first for free, complete it, and when happy you pay the money to actually send it in. you can see my tax saga lol here in this post

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ghlight=uk+tax

md95065

Is there no option to just download a copy of a paper form, print it out, fill it in with lots of zeros and mail it to them?

MsElui

paper deadline was 31st October. Has to be in by end Jan if done electronically.

pwhite8314

Thanks, will look later this evening...I'm not even sure I got a reminder for the end of October, but I may have done. Either way, it's all a bit silly given the situation!

md95065

Is there a penalty for filing late?

pwhite8314

I think so, £100, although it's fairly easy to get that backed off if there's a good reason.

MsElui

so the £12 might be a better bet. I found it a bit scary looking - but once i actually played around with it it wasn't too bad. We used ours mostly to report rental income and expenses - so the small profit we made was within our allowance to it ended up as a nil return for us too. I was happy to see it go electronically and see the confirmation it was received though.

penguinbar

We used taxcalc the past two years. www.taxcalc.com.

pwhite8314

All done - thanks for the sa2000 tip....clunkiest spreadsheet I've had to use in a long time, but as I didn't have to enter much, it was cheap, and it worked!

MsElui

haha - yes it aint pretty but it gets it done. I also like that you could download it and play with it to see if it suited before you had to pay anything.

Birt Tiddler

For the past 2 years I have used the std online HMRC tax return form even though it says I cannot (being is the US and that ,,,) - but if you enter your US address and leave the postcode blank - it lets you carry on regardless.
Havent had a problem with this 2 years running.. so ...???