Self Assessment De-registering: Date confirmation for fine

I have been doing SA for a few years due to UK income while abroad. I am a UK citizen. I no longer get income or have tax obligations from the UK, so de-registered. My last tax SA return was for 2022-2023: Filed in Jan 2024 I de-registered for SA in March 2024 - which shows as "completed" in the portal I have received a late fine for my 2023 to 2024 tax return. Did I make a mistake with when I de-registered? Did it need to be before 31st Jan 2024?

Does anyone have any thoughts? The website here has a section on it: https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/no-longer-need-to-send-a-tax-return >HMRC needs time to review your request before the Self Assessment deadline of 31 January. The self assessment deadlines are here: https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/deadlines >The last tax year started on 6 April 2023 and ended on 5 April 2024 [The one I am fined for] >If you’re sending a paper tax return, you must submit it by midnight 31 October 2024. >If you’re sending an online tax return, you must submit it by midnight 31 January 2025. I de-registered for SA in March 2024, which is well before both of these SA deadline dates. Could anyone clarify what's wrong here?

Hi Adrian,
It's possible that you have not fully deregistered.
To allow us to confirm this, and complete your deregistration, contact us by webchat or phone here:
Self Assessment: general enquiries
Thank you. 

I called the help line shortly after my last post. It took a long time to get through, but in the end it was confirmed that I did nothing wrong and I wasn't "completely de-registered" as HMRC had made a mistake. The fine was removed. 2 days ago I get a new message: "Self Assessment Notice to complete a tax return" for the 2024 to 2025 tax year Not only did my first de-register not work, it looks like even after a phone call from abroad (costing a fortune) to sort this out has still not de-registered me. What should I do now? de-register again online? Phone and try and explain this? I had to book the morning off work to get this resolved last time. My finances are quite simple, so I don't think there is anything complicated happening with my account 😔

Hi ,
 

I'm sorry for any distress and the  inconvenience caused in trying to resolve this issue. The message you received may have been issued before you fully deregistered, so this may now be out of date. To allow us to confirm this, and finalise your deregistration if necessary, you can contact us by webchat via : Self Assessment: general enquiries - just click 'chat with HMRC online'. You can also contact us by calling again, or by using the postal address given on the link provided above.  Thank you .