Martin Lewis tax alert for pensioners as ‘they will come round to your house’ | Personal Finance | Finance
Martin Lewis has shared some important tax guidance for pensioners. In a recent episode of his BBC podcast, the financial journalist looked at many aspects of tax.
Topics in the show included how changes to how income tax affects some state pensioners, as well as how inheritance tax and capital gains tax works. He was joined by two tax experts to help him explain the rules, including chartered accountant Rebecca Benneyworth.
One 80-year-old listener, Cathy, wrote in to say she was having issues filling in the HMRC forms for her self assessment. The deadline to get in your self assessment tax return for the previous tax year is January 31.
The taxpayer said she only had £150 in tax to pay and she had tried getting help for a tax advisor but many charged big fees. Mr Lewis reminded taxpayers that it’s best practice to get your self assessment sorted from October to December ahead of the January deadline.
Ms Benneyworth spoke about some of the help that is available for older taxpayers. She said: “If you are on a low income, there are two tax charities. One I’m thinking of is Tax Help for Older People.
“They have an army of volunteers – I’ve worked as a volunteer in the past – for elderly people on low incomes. They will come round to your house and they will sit with you, and they will sort out your tax.”
The tax expert went on to speak about another charity the listener could try. Ms Benneyworth said: “The other one is Tax Aid. They are more London-based but you can deal with them on the phone or by email.
“Again, they help people who’ve got low incomes who have got themselves into a mess with their tax affairs for free. Lots of tax professionals make donations to those charities at the end of the year because we all think they do an absolutely fabulous job.”
The accountant shared another tip for the listener. She said: “I wouldn’t suggest it to everybody but you might get a bit of help on webchat [on the Government website]. HMRC is devoting quite a lot of money and resource to webchat.
“Some of it is the computer says yes or no, but if you are asking questions that they think you need a real life advisor, you may well be able to get put on to an advisor, who might help you.”
Adding his thoughts, Mr Lewis said it’s in the Government’s interests to improve its services. He said: “This isn’t about a cost [for HMRC]. Ultimately, do it right and you collect more tax revenue, because people are paying the right tax. When you don’t know what to do, it’s not good for society.”
It’s important to get your tax return in by the January 31 or you could be slapped with a penalty, and these costs can ramp up. You wil get an initial £100 penalty for filing your self assessment late, with further penalties if you still don’t pay the amount you owe after a certain period.
For the latest money saving tips, shopping and consumer news, go to the new Everything Money website.
