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Posted Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:55:36 GMT by
My wife needs to pay income tax from foreign income but at the same time cannot do so because the system does not allow her to log in. How did we get to this mess: - We got our NI numbers when I was studying in UK as Erasmus student in 2005 - At that time, we were not married so my wife had her NI issued to her maiden name - We then moved back home and after some time got married - my wife took my surname and had all her documents updated except for NI in UK - We moved back to UK in 2013 - I'm providing for both of us and until 2022 my wife didn't have any taxable income (local or foreign) so we didn't need her NI and didn't realised the issue - In 2022 my wife started renting apartment abroad and now needs to tax that income - We tried to register her for UTR. We couldn't get through online system so we did it by mail. But even though we explained in the mail that we need surname change as well and provided documents, UTR was issued but the surname didn't change. - Now my wife is registered for self assessment but cannot fill one because she cannot pass identity verification - all documents are for different surname. - Then we were fined this year for her not filling tax returns for 2021 and 2022. - We tried to call in but we couldn't appeal over phone because HMRC were not able to verify my wife's identity over phone. They told us to send them the mail with us much of information as we can - But we don't have UK marriage certificate - We appealed by mail, explained situation, provided documents we could and asked for fines to be dropped and surname to be changed. - Fines were dropped, surname stayed the same. - My wife still cannot get through identity verification and fill her tax return. This is similar problem to this one https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/customerforums/pt/08ce1e74-8b78-ed11-97b0-00155d9c7b3d?page=1 with additional complexity of being foreigners, not having proper marriage certificate and my wife having not having tax or credit history in UK. What should we do? We just want to follow the rules and pay the tax, that cannot be that hard, right? We tried to call in, that didn't help and we were told to communicate with HMRC over mail. We tried to send our request with a mail, that didn't help either. We even didn't get reply why the surname wasn't changed. So we need a much more detailed reply with steps and documents we need to provide to resolve this. Best regards,
Posted Fri, 07 Jul 2023 10:16:22 GMT by HMRC Admin 20 Response
Hi Ladisav,

If we are not able to verify her identity by telephone you will need to write to us again
Income Tax: general enquiries

Thank you.

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