Taxpayers
Taxpayers
There are a number of sources of help if you have a tax problem. These include HMRC, Voluntary Sector Organisations, and Tax Advisers in public practice. This section will help you to decide where to go for help.
Who can TaxAid help?
TaxAid can help anyone on low income who has been unable to resolve their tax problem with HMRC. As a guideline, a low income is up to about £380 a week before tax for a single person – equivalent to £20,000 per year.
If you are on low income and aged 60 or over, you should contact Tax Help for Older People – http://www.taxvol.org.uk/ – phone 01308 488066. Tax Help for Older People does not deal with self-employed taxpayers.
TaxAid does not advise on Tax Credits or DWP benefits, Limited Companies or council tax. TaxAid does not provide tax planning advice. Before you phone TaxAid you should look at the sections below.
Can you resolve your problem directly with HMRC?
Where you need to give information to HMRC, or ask HMRC for information, you should contact HMRC directly. Some questions can only be resolved by HMRC. As a guide, HMRC should be able to help you with:
- Updating your PAYE tax code
- Making a claim for work expenses as an employee
- Filing your Self Assessment tax return
- Understanding Statements of Account, Penalty Notices or other correspondence
- Understanding how tax debts are made up and have been calculated
- How different types of income are taxed
- How to deal with tax when you become self-employed
- Entitlement to tax credits or child benefit
You can contact HMRC on the following numbers – or try the HMRC’s contact us page on the Gov.uk website.
Income tax helpline – 0300 200 3300
HMRC have temporarily closed the Self-Assessment Helpline until 4 September 2023. Please read our article here for details on where to get support
Self assessment helpline – 0300 200 3310
Tax Credits helpline – 0345 300 3900
National Insurance – 0300 200 3500 (if you are self-employed, phone 0300 200 3505)
Registering as self-employed 0300 200 3504
Do you need a Tax Adviser in practice?
If you are not on low income, or need help with tax planning or companies, then you should contact a tax adviser in practice.
We are not able to recommend individual accountants, but do suggest that you find an accredited accountant through institutions such as the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales http://www.icaew.com, the Chartered Institute of Taxation http://www.tax.org.uk, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland www.icas.org.uk, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en.html or the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland www.icai.ie.
For tips on chosing an accountant or tax adviser, see the Choosing an adviser page.
Can you resolve the issue using one of TaxAid’s guides?
TaxAid has guides to help you with issues like tax debt, employee tax problems, filing a tax return, and what to do about undeclared income. Try the links on the right.
If you need to contact TaxAid
Make sure that you have any paperwork and recent correspondence relating to your tax problem, including that from HMRC. You may contact TaxAid via the Contact Us page, or via the Helpline.
