at what point is it not worth filling in a short assessment tax return?

[mhoc]

thanks for this - as I thought, best to be on the safe side - its only the short tax form and it doesn't need a lot of time to complete.

Yes we do gift aid - we had a statement through from Oxfam with the amount they had sold and the tax and I put the amount on the short tax form but its not shown on the HMRC statement - perhaps its not enough this year.

I am sure it showed in their calculations in previous years

[oldvicar]

Various points have already been mentioned before, but the key ones seem to me:

HMRC won't require a filing from next year because there will be no more tax owed, because the first £5000 of dividend income will be tax free for everyone.

Because you do gift aid, as a 40% taxpayer you are however entitled to a refund, (someone said 18%). If that 18% is worth filling in a form to you, then do it! [Edited because I was wrong about needing a different form]

[mhoc]

thanks for this, it is now making sense

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...-avoid-it.html

I found this article which explains everything - I still cant believe that this was the last short tax form we need to complete - we have paid the extra £100 to £200 through the tax code for years and now HMRC say its too small to be bothered with

At the moment 10% is taken off automatically in tax (even if you are a non tax payer you cant claim this) - will dividends from 2016 be gross - or are they being paid gross now for 2015?

[mhoc]

Today my OH got his new PAYE coding notice.

as usual they start with your personal allowance and add on anything you have gift aided.

From this sum they take off your savings income taxable at the higher rate and what is left is then your new tax code.

this is what happens every year but I assume that we now have just the normal personal allowance code every year.

If the first £5000 of dividend income will be tax free for everyone in future I would imagine that a few people that have stashes under the mattress might now buy shares or get a shares ISA but you would need a lot of high earning shares to get to £5K I suppose if there is more demand for shares the prices would rise ??

[oldvicar]

Today my OH got his new PAYE coding notice.

as usual they start with your personal allowance and add on anything you have gift aided.

From this sum they take off your savings income taxable at the higher rate and what is left is then your new tax code.

this is what happens every year but I assume that we now have just the normal personal allowance code every year.

If the first £5000 of dividend income will be tax free for everyone in future I would imagine that a few people that have stashes under the mattress might now buy shares or get a shares ISA but you would need a lot of high earning shares to get to £5K I suppose if there is more demand for shares the prices would rise ??

I don't think so mhoc, because everyone is ALSO going to have at least the first £5000 of savings interest (bank and building society deposits) tax free then for most people there will be no tax advantage to shift deposits into shares. Reasons for choosing between deposits and shares will be very much the same as they are today.

[mhoc]

bumping this up as I have had another thought.

OH gets around £800 to £1000 a year in share dividends. Previously he has always filled in a short tax form and the extra tax he pays through an adjustment to his tax code but it seems there is no need to do this any more.

so will dividends be paid now gross with no 10% tax taken off?

Also OH is thinking of starting on April 6th a Flex regular saver account in his own name from his nationwide own current account (the share dividends go into this account) - £500 a month with 5% gross interest for 12 months - this Personal savings allowance is a different thing isn't it

in theory someone could have £1000/£500 in interest from savings as well as £5000 in dividends and not have to declare? I would imagine that very few people exceed these levels.

OH is a higher rate tax payer so his PSA is only £500 and he has no savings in his own name - only the joint current which pay 3% but its segmented

[TetrisX]

George Osborne said in a previous budget that there won't be any need for self assessment in future for the vast majority of citizens, as we will all have individual tax reporting accounts and providers will be required to submit necessary information direct. Any extra liability then due would be billed out. I am pretty sure that was supposed to start this April but I don't think it is ready (other than the removal of savings interest).