TaxAid

Our Christmas Campaign has launched! For the second year we’re asking our wonderful supporters in the tax community to please donate their final hour’s pay to help people who need tax advice but who are unable to afford it. Together we can make a real difference. Donate here:

Alistair suffers from PTSD and is disabled. He lives on £13,000 per year from a small private pension and Support Allowance (ESA). Alistair’s already difficult personal circumstances were made worse when he became a victim of fraudulent activity by a refund company that resulted in over £12,000 of refund claims being made in his name. Alistair never received any of this money and was unaware that claims were being made in his name. He only became aware of the fraud when HMRC contacted him about an underpayment of £689. He contacted TaxAid for help and took the matter up with Action Fraud—we also encouraged him to report the refund agent to HMRC through their dedicated online form. As the case involved fraudulent activity, it took almost three months to resolve. We made an appeal to HMRC asking them to write off the underpayment of £689 they were chasing as well as the £12,000 refund that had been fraudulently claimed in view of Alistair’s disabilities and PTSD that restrict his capacity to earn an income. Alistair was overjoyed with this outcome and wrote to the adviser supporting the case: ‘How good are you. You have taken a lot of pressure off of me and I hope you realise what that truly means to me. You are quite simply awesome. Thank you sooooo much.’ We help people like Alistair every day on our tax advice helplines. People who would be unable to afford paid tax advice, and who would not receive the help they need without our charities. This year we are asking the generous people within the tax community to please donate the last hour of your pay. Please help support our vital tax advice helplines this festive season. Link is in the comments.

Wishing you a wonderful festive season and a Happy New Year from everyone at TaxAid and Tax Help for Older People.

Do you want to get some amazing education and CPD and help two incredible tax charities, TaxAid and Tax Help for Older People, at the same time? Then this year’s charity conference, kindly hosted by Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) Institute of Taxation, on 'From Sliding Doors to Success: Safeguarding Your Practice for Future Success' could be just what you are looking for, with 3 hours of amazing content.   📅 Date: Tuesday, 11 February 2025, from 14.30 - 17:30 GMT 💻 Format: Virtual 💷 Conference Fee: £50.00 (charitable donation)   This live conference offers practical strategies to help professionals navigate risks, protect their practices, and thrive in a changing landscape.   Join us and help TaxAid and Tax Help for Older People provide essential tax advice to vulnerable people. These charities offer unique services to individuals who have nowhere else to turn, making a real difference in the lives of those in need.   🎙️ Speakers & Topics: Karen Eckstein, of Karen Eckstein Limited and Jenna Rigg of Singularitee Limited – "Risks in the New World" Colin Taylor of Howden Insurance Brokers – "Beware of Sliding Doors" Karen Eckstein, – "Complaints About Your Work from Clients and Your Professional Body" MARK LEE FCA – "How to Be Better Remembered, Referred, and Recommended" Plus a Q and A session so that you can ask all those searching questions you want – put the speakers on the spot! For more details, view the programme and book please CLICK HERE: https://lnkd.in/epAgrh_V We are so excited to be supporting the tax charities and to be part of this valuable conference that enables professionals to learn strategies to future proof their businesses at a small cost, and the ticket price goes to charity, what’s not to like? Book now and see you at the conference!

Susan tried relentlessly to resolve her tax problem on her own for several years, but with each new attempt, she felt increasingly stressed. She told us that she thought she was only ‘exasperating’ the problem. In 2018/19 Susan received a notice of underpayment for £1,461 for the previous tax year, 2017/18. During this year she had changed jobs and she believed this was the cause of her underpayment. She called HMRC multiple times, including a conference call with HMRC and her employer, and she believed the issue had been resolved. However, Susan continued receiving tax demands ranging from £200 up to £4,000. She continued to contact HMRC to resolve the problem, but she was losing confidence in her ability to do so and could not afford a paid tax adviser. When she received another demand in January 2024, she called HMRC and was advised to submit an appeal. She contacted TaxAid for support in doing this. When Susan called us she told us she was unable to pay the tax debt— she was only able to work part-time as she was also looking after her disabled son. Her income was just £10,000 per year, supported by Universal Credit. Our adviser investigated the issue and found that Susan was correct, her change in employment had caused the underpayment in tax. In fact, we found that her new employer had issued the correct tax code, and this was amended by HMRC who issued a new tax code on an incorrect basis, generating the underpayment. HMRC also confirmed everything that Susan had said. They had received multiple calls from her, and at the time she had been advised that everything was in order. They also confirmed that they did indeed send multiple different tax demands, across multiple years. We submitted an appeal to HMRC based on this information, highlighting Susan’s attempts to resolve the issue herself, and her current financial hardship. The appeal was successful and HMRC waived the tax debt. Susan sent this message of thanks to our tax team: “Thank you very much for all your help. I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet. I've had some difficult things happen recently and this is the first bit of good news I have had in a long time."

Did you see us in the latest Tax Adviser Magazine? We shared the story of Mary, a pensioner living with brain cancer, and the tax issue that we helped her to resolve.

As a small charity with a big impact, we’re deeply grateful to each and every one of our supporters. Each time you volunteer, donate, or even share our message, you help us to support someone in need of essential tax advice. Your kindness and dedication are the reason we are able to help so many people in need each year. We would not be able to do it without you. Today is #GivingTuesday, and we invite you to join our latest campaign. Donate your last hour of pay this Christmas and help someone who is struggling with their tax. The link is in the comments.

How do people in poverty end up with complicated tax problems? It is a common misconception that tax advice is just for people with significant wealth – every hour that our tax advice helpline is open is a testament to that. Tax issues can arise for people for many reasons, and the only real difference is that some people can afford to pay for the help they need, and some cannot. For example, 23% of self-employed workers were reported to be in poverty in the 2024 Joseph Rowntree Foundation poverty report. Not everyone who is self-employed is a successful entrepreneur; many find work as cleaners, childminders, delivery drivers, or within the gig economy. They may face tax issues from self-employment due to misunderstanding tax laws, from working under an Umbrella company (a type of organisation that handles tax for self-employed people), or from being self-employed as a second job. Even people employed in salaried roles can unknowingly underpay tax due to employer errors, and end up with a surprise fine that they cannot afford to pay. We even get calls on our helpline from people on benefits who are unable to work, due to disabilities or ill health, who receive a surprise tax bill from an error or mistake made with their tax years ago when they were working. The simple fact is this: no one should pay more in tax or experience financial difficulty paying a tax debt they might not even owe simply because they cannot afford paid tax advice. Our service is a lifeline to people in poverty, giving them a helping hand when they feel helpless. We hear from people with less than one hundred pounds in tax debt right up to tens of thousands of pounds in tax debt, and they all say the same thing, ‘Thank you I had no idea what I was going to do’.

Katy had a tax debt of £9,565 and an income of just £12,000 per year from a zero-hours contract, with no savings. She was understandably extremely worried about how she could ever repay this unexpected debt, so she reached out to Citizen’s Advice for support, who, in turn, referred her to TaxAid. She explained to us that she lives in London and works in the care sector. She told us she doesn’t know how taxes work and that she assumed she had been paying the right amount through her salary as she always received payslips. We discovered that Katy’s tax debt accumulated over a number of years (2018-2022) after she took a job with a second care provider. The problem arose because of an error when she started with her new employer – her Personal Allowance was claimed twice, leading to an underpayment of PAYE. We appealed the tax debt with HMRC but were unsuccessful. We then made a second appeal on the grounds of financial hardship and this time we were successful. When we called Katy to tell her the good news she was incredibly grateful and relieved to have the unbearable burden of £9,565 of tax debt removed from her life. Katy now has a much better understanding of her taxes, which will serve her well should she work for another employer in the future. Last year we helped over 18,000 people like Katy through our tax advice helplines. If you want to help us support more people like Katy then please consider giving your last hour’s pay this Christmas, donation link is in the comments

This is the difference your support has made in 2023/24: 6,550 people received crucial help through our helpline £120,725 in tax refunds for people in financial difficulty £928,562 of tax debt was cancelled for people in need. Together, let’s keep making an impact!