Self Assessment for 23/24

Dear HRMC Team This forum is very useful and I appreciate the efforts of those officers responding to the queries. I moved to the UK with my family in August 2023 under the BNO Visa Scheme after retirement as a Hong Kong Civil Servant in May 2023. I understand that by virtue of the Article 17 of the UK/Hong Kong Double Taxation Agreement and Protocol signed on 21 Jun 2010, pension arising from Hong Kong in respect of past employment in Hong Kong shall only be taxable in Hong Kong. Based on the previous reply in this forum, I am given to understand that such lump sum and monthly pensions is exempted from UK tax and thus not necessary to be included in self-assessment. Please correct me if this position is still valid in view of the latest UK Government tax reform proposal. Furthermore, is the same exemption also applicable to salary paid in lieu of annual leave and other welfare related allowance, say education allowance payable to a Hong Kong civil servant? After I arrived in UK in August 2023, I was still receiving the salary from the HKSAR government in respect of my paid annual leave and a sum of overseas education allowance for my daughter until October when I was formally retired and strike off from Hong Kong civil servant. Do I need to include these two sums in 23 to 24 self assessment for the UK tax? Thank you!

Hi M L Lee,
You do not include them as taxable income, but you will refer to the income in the comments section and that it is not taxable in the UK by virtue of the DTA.
Thank you. 

I’m in the process of registering for self assessment for the first time. I became a tax resident in the 2023/24 tax year. In the tax year, I was a self-employed freelancer. I did not employ anyone. I took up freelance projects as an individual. I did not set up any company when taking up freelance jobs. When registering for the self assessment, I was asked what types of tax I want to register the business for. Should I choose Self Assessment only? Do I need to register for Corporation Tax and PAYE for Employers? (I will not employ others, neither will I set up a company to take up freelance jobs)

Hi L lyluk2023,
You only need to register as self employed.
You have not set up a limited company, so do not need to register for Corporation Tax
As you do not have any employees, you do not need to register for PAYE for employers.
You can always revisit these option in the future, should you need to take on employees or grow beyond being a sole trader.
Please see here for further help. 
What a sole trader is
Thank you. 

Dear HMRC Admin 25, Thank you so much for your reply which is very clear and useful! I moved to a new place in this June. When I tried to register for Self Assessment (add a business tax account), I updated my home address and my business address is same as the new home address. The system did show both my new and old home address. When I tried to submit my registration on the Declaration page, the system kept showing the following: ‘The personal details entered do not match the personal details held for you by HMRC. The personal details known to HMRC are …. (my old address). If your personal details are incorrect or they have recently changed, you can update them in your Personal Tax Account (a link). Selecting ‘Next’ will use the personal details held by HMRC for the registration. ’ I failed to update my home address to the new one by clicking the Personal Tax Account link. Neither was I able to complete my registration by clicking ‘Next’. The above message kept reappearing. What should I do? By the way, I did not create any Personal Tax Account in the HMRC system. 2023/24 is my first tax year and this is the first time I register for self assessment. I did not enter my old address in the HMRC system before this registration. The system showed my old address automatically. Why did this happen?

Hi
For assistance it would need to be our online helpdesk Technical support with HMRC online services

The self assessment site is not accepting submissions and has been that way for a week now. When will this be fixed please? Online chat support does not understand my query which is quite simple.

I understand that the helpdesk number has been closed down since the autumn. However, when the self assessment submission page states that it is not possible to submit at this time, it suggests calling the helpdesk if the problem persists for more that 24 hours. Shouldn't this message be removed?

Hi
Please look here Technical support with HMRC online services