Is Self Assessment tax return required?

Hi there, I was wondering if someone could advise me on the correct course of action. Tax year 2023/2024. I am a higher tax payer, but I don’t submit Self Assessment tax return. I live in Scotland and I was in receipt of the Child Benefit for the entire tax year. As my total taxable income through PAYE was in excess of £60,000 I was considering to register for Self Assessment to settle the Child Benefit Charge for the tax year 2023/2024. Then at the end of March 2024 I made a one-off contribution of £16,000 (including 20% tax relief at source) into my employment pension plan directly from my bank account (from my after-tax savings). I am currently in a process of preparing my letter to HMRC claiming additional tax relief on my pension contribution. The HMRC gov.uk web page on “Tax on your private pension contributions” specifically states: You must write to HMRC to make a new claim for a pension contribution over £10,000. It is also important to note that this one-off £16,000 pension contribution brings my adjusted net income below £50,000, and therefore voids any Child Benefit Charge due. Please advise on the correct course of action: a) Only send the letter to HMRC (including all the required documents from the pension provider) claiming additional tax relief. Then HMRC will automatically update my adjusted net income and there won’t be any requirement to submit the Self Assessment tax return. b) Send the letter to HMRC and then also submit my Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2023/2024. c) Do something else. Please advise. Many thanks.

Hi,
As you earn over £50,000 before adjusted net income is calculated, and receive Child Benefit, you will need to complete a Self Assessment return.
Include the stated amount of one-off pension contributions in that return, and send the letter including evidence of the contribution.
Thank you.

Hi there, Thank you for your response. In addition to my post above. Please be advised that I sent my letter to HMRC claiming additional tax relief on my pension contributions on April 18, 2024. This morning I received an electronic message in my HMRC app advising me of my new tax calculation for the tax year 2023/2024. It also contained the full tax calculation (P800) taking into account my private pension contributions. Do I still need to complete a Self Assessment return as I earned over £50,000 before adjusted net income was calculated, and I receive Child Benefit? Or because the adjusted net income has now been calculated through P800, I am no longer required to complete a Self Assessment return. Please advise. Many thanks.

Hi,

You would still need to complete a tax return, as your initial income before adjustments is over £50,000.

Thank you.

Hi there, Thank you for all your help. Further to my posts above and your responses. I have never done a tax return before, but my understanding is that I will be using figures from my P60 for that purpose. If that’s correct, how (or where) am I going to reflect my tax refund that I have received through P800. Many thanks in advance.

Hi Rustem,
If you received an end-of-year tax refund before you filed a tax return for the same year, enter the amount you received on the page titled 'Tax Refunded or Set Off', in the box 'Income Tax refunded or set off'.
Please note, if you you received your refund during that tax year, through your wage, you do not need to complete this box.
For more advice, contact us by webchat or phone here:
Self Assessment: general enquiries.
Thank you. 

Many thanks for all your help here, I really appreciate it. My next question is about filling in boxes 1 to 3 for payments to registered pension schemes on my tax return. Tax Return notes (Tax year 6 April 2023 to 5 April 2024 (2023–24)) state: Box 1.1 Total of any ‘one-off’ payments in box 1 To help us get your PAYE tax code right, if you have one, put the total of any one-off payments (included in box 1) that you made in the tax year to 5 April 2024 in box 1.1. What is not clear for me whether or not I should add here the basic rate tax relief as I would do in Box 1. Here is a simple example. Let’s say I made a single ‘one-off’ payment of £13,000 into my pension scheme. The tax relief was £3,250. So I put £16,250 in Box 1. What should I put in Box 1.1? Is it £16,250 - my net payment plus the tax relief? Or is it £13,000 - just my net payment? Please advise. Kind regards, Rustem

I arrived in uk on 6th of january 2023 and there is no tax deduction till March-23 and even P60 also shows 0 tax deduction. So I wanted to know, if I still need to file tax return for year 2022-23 or can I skip? It would be great if someone assist me.

Hi Rushem,
If the one-off payment was £13,000 then this would be the figure for box 1.1
Thank you. 

Hi Vidyadhar,
Please refer to:
Self Assessment tax returns
Thank you. 

Hi there, Thank you for all your help. I have started filling out my Self Assessment return (online) for the tax year 2023/2024, but I have a question. As I mentioned it above, I received my end-of-year tax refund (because of my private pension contributions) before I filed a tax return for the year 2023/2024. Now, my P800 calculations for the tax year 2023/2024 also included a subtraction of £248.50 - the tax I owed for the year 2022/2023. Initially HMRC was going to collect this amount through my tax code in the year 2024/2025, but ended up subtracting it from the refund and then changing my tax code for the year 2024/2025 back to its default value. Please advise where on the Self Assessment return can I reflect this £248.50 that I owed for the year 2022/2023? There are couple of pages where I could probably enter this amount, but I am not totally convinced: (1) Underpaid tax included in PAYE coding (Page 1 of 2). Amount of underpaid tax for earlier years included in your tax code for 2023-24 (from your PAYE Notice of Coding). Please enter ‘0’ if there is nothing shown: 0. !!! I don’t think this is applicable to me. As I mentioned it already HMRC was only going to collect this amount through my tax code in the year 2024/2025. Hence I didn’t receive any PAYE Notice of Coding in 2023/2024 in relation to the tax I owed for the year 2022/2023. (2) Underpaid tax included in PAYE coding (Page 2 of 2). Amount of estimated underpaid tax for 6 April 2023 to 5 April 2024 to be included in your PAYE tax code for 6 April 2024 to 5 April 2025 (from your PAYE Notice of Coding). Please enter ‘0’ if there is nothing shown: 0. !!! Again, I don’t think this is applicable to my case, as they are talking about “estimated underpaid tax for 6 April 2023 to 5 April 2024” and the tax I owed was for the year 2022/2023. At the moment I have both of these boxes with value 0, but then my final calculation suggests that HMRC owes me £248.50 - the exact amount I owed for the tax year 2022/2023, which was already subtracted from the refund. If you think that this amount should be entered into either (1) or (2) above, can you please explain why my reasoning is incorrect. Many thanks, 

Hi Rustem,
To give you the best advice here, we may need to review your record, and your codes. To allow us to do this, contact us by webchat or phone via: Self Assessment: general enquiries.
Thank you.