sb3502

HMRC admin's have used the following phrase in responses here. "Under the terms of Self Assessment, we do not provide an official exchange rate and the onus is on the individual to use a just and reasonable exchange rate for conversion..." Please provide a source for this statement and/or to what "terms" you are referring. I contend that there is nothing written which supports your statements and you are actually providing misleading guidance here. I would be delighted for you to prove me wrong however as that would be enormously helpful. If you are going to do this, please refer to the thread so far since a number of plain wrong responses have been given already.

"Like a circle in a circle or a wheel within a wheel .." Simply untrue. Legislation and HMRC guidance (including on this forum) says otherwise. I can't be bothered explaining again since it's all covered earlier in the thread. Have the honesty to retract incorrect information and get someone who can respond authoritatively.

Hi - thank-you for replying, but I believe the response is not relevant. I don't think you've read the original context. This is NOT a claim for higher rate relief. It is a claim for basic rate relief which was not claimed by my pension provider (despite them operating relief at source). This was because I believed at the time of the contributon that my relevant earnings for self-employment would not be sufficient to claim relief on the contribution. At the end of the tax year my earnings were higher and I therefore wish to claim the basic relief on some of the contribution. After having followed the advice here, I believe that the relief would in fact be given as a reduction of my income tax due after completing self-assessment. However, I have no income tax due for the year as my earnings were below the personal allowance. So - how do I get the tax relief paid to my pension? Thanks.

Thank-you for confirming. I've now had a go at doing this, but it raises another question.... how does HMRC know to make a payment of tax relief to my pension? i.e. will you be able to look up other relief claimed by my SIPP provider and send it there or do I need to include SIPP details in an "other information" box or as an attachment? Thanks.

I have a SIPP which is relief at source, but in 22-23 I told them to treat one contribution as "gross" and tax relief was not claimed. This is because I am self-employed and predicting relevant earnings for the year is sometimes difficult. I didn't want to exceed the annual limit. I now find that my earings were somewhat higher nad wish to claim the basic tax relief on some of that contribution. SIPP provider says I can do this on self assessment. I have read the HMRC guidance (https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-relief) and cannot find a reference to this situation. I'm also looking at the pension contribution section of self assessment and the nearest thing I can see is "Payments to a retirement annuity contract (Also known as RAR) where basic rate tax relief will not be claimed by your provider:" But this is a SIPP not a RAR. Can you please advise whether a claim for this basic rate relief is possible on self-assessment and, if so, exactly where? If not, do Ijust need to write to HMRC per the guidance I referenced above? Its for amounts less than £10,000. Thanks

I am just completing SA and have said no to receiving any foreign income (true). A warning comes up "HMRC receives data from foreign jurisdictions and that data tells us about taxpayers who have income or assets outside the UK. Please make sure all the information you provide in this return is accurate." and it says "Please check the entry below". As far as I can tell (after lots of reading), I only need to declare any foreign income and capital gains. I'm slightly concerned however because there is, what seems to be, considerable misinformation around the Web concerning the need to declare foreign "accounts" and "assets". I think this is just sloppy writing, but wanted to check as we do have a foreign bank account and did have a another one previously. Neither have received any income at any point however. Can you please confirm that my understanding is correct (or not)? Ideally, it would be helpful if you could shed light on why I may have received the warning. I'm guessing it could be because of the existence of the account despite their being no income. Thanks, S

......so, 2 months to go full circle. Completely pointless exercise so I'll raise a complaint instead.

You're now directly contradicting what other admins have said earlier in the thread, which is why taxpayers including myself need a definitive answer from you. i.e.... From earlier in this thread "The Bank of England does not quote the closing rate from the London Stock Exchange, which is why it cannot be used. As long as the rate is the closing rate, it can be used. An example of this is a national newpaper, that is quoting the closing rate for the day before. You can also use the official exchange rates here:" Now you're saying: "The exchange rate is not set in stone, which is why you have a choice. Under the terms of Self Assessment, we do not provide an official exchange rate and the onus is on the individual to use a just and reasonable exchange rate for each acquisition and disposal." You talk about "official rates" earlier in this thread and in response to plenty of other questions. You still haven't provided a source for older "official" exchange rates nor any source stating that other "reasonable" sources of rates can be used as asserted above. When I ask for something to back up assertions here by HMRC that the monthly, yearly or March/Dec spot rates can be used, I get incorrect information relating to business taxation. Then you give two links neither of which specify the source or any details of acceptable exchange rates (they are instead about the nature of CGT calculations). You have also said above "Under the terms of Self Assessment, we do not provide an official exchange rate...." . So why do so many of the responses here and on other threads point to the HMRC "official rates" both on your own site and in the National Archives? If this statement is true, where in any official guidance does it say this? It doesn't appear that anyone from HMRC is able to address this question properly or avoid providing misleading or plain incorrect guidance here.

Hi, Thank you for that reply, but I’d already read that, and it is not, as far as I can tell, applicable to capital gains. It is in the Business Income manual, not the Capital Gains manual, refers to “ S25 Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 and is specifically in relation to trading profits. The tax law and case law for foreign trading profits is different to that for Capital Gains. For example, a trading profit or loss is calculated completely in the foreign currency and only THEN converted to sterling. This is NOT permitted for capital gains which must use the exchange at the time the asset was acquired and the exchange rate at the time of disposal. I feel a bit daft spelling this out since you’re the experts, but it seems necessary as I’m still not getting a straight accurate answer to a straight question about how to comply with my tax obligations. It currently appears impossible, so I know I’m missing something . The earlier answer said that the March and December spot rates or other rates could be used. I simply asked for either a valid source for this statement. Regards, Stuart