Ok...so why??

Am I getting letters to fill out my self assessment online by the end of January? I thought we didn't need to do anything with taxes here... I'm not self employed or anything... 

If you are PAYE you shouldn't, unless you have earnings elsewhere or have spent part of the year out of the UK earning, or have earnings from overseas.

Call the HMRC and ask if they are doing some kind of random check.  I believe it does happen sometimes.

Vicky

I am PAYE, no earnings elsewhere...

Thanks, will call them up!

The legal position is that if you have been required by HMRC to complete a Self Assessment tax return then do not ignore that request!

The fact that your main (or only) source of income is taxed under PAYE does not necessarily mean that you have paid all the tax due. For example it is possible that someone has received benefits that were not fully coded out in the year.

phatbeetle, if you have received a letter reminding you to file a Self Assessment tax return ... do that .... file!

I thought it was worth calling in case it was sent in error.

Vicky

Vicky, the great majority of PAYE taxpayers do not get asked by HMRC to complete a Self Assessment tax return. But some are, and the best advice is, if anyone has recently received a reminder from HMRC is ..... don't ignore it! File by 31 January.

I didn't say to ignore it!


Vicky

I didn't say you did!

Since you arrived in the UK in 2007/08 you'll also need to complete the relevant pages to self-assess your residence status (i.e. are you resident for tax purposes, are you ordinarily resident for tax purposes?) and your non-UK domicile status.

You might be entitled to detached duty relief or double tax relief - you may want to claim the remittance basis as well.

Indeed you might get youself a refund so filing may be a good thing to do!

Thanks everyone.  I am definitely a bit confused by it all, so first I will call, then I will do whatever I need to do to file or whatnot. 

I am PAYE and have been asked to file since the first year I moved here.  Not sure why I won that lottery, but it's not nearly as tough as US taxes.  The online form is pretty easy.  It asks a bunch of questions about your job/investments/etc and then based on your answers only asks for the relevant information from your various documents - i.e. P60 and P11D.  I tend to get a refund every other year.  And if you end up owing taxes, they give you an option to adjust from your PAYE.  So you don't have to come up with money on the spot. 

Good luck!

I've been PAYE the entire time I've been here, but I got one of those at the end of 2007 / beginning of 2008 and filled it in, ended up with a nice payment as it turned out that one of my previous employers had me on emergency tax the entire time I was working there (about 9 mos).     Couldn't've come at a better time too, since I was just a couple months into my MAT leave.   

Believe me its really simple to fill out their forms, however if you do have accounts held in the US they'll want to know more and then you get taxed twice, which means self assessment tax returns every year.   

however if you do have accounts held in the US they'll want to know more and then you get taxed twice, which means self assessment tax returns every year.   

Like bank accounts?  Well not much in there, about $60 in all 3 of them!

What does PAYE mean?     I'm really in the dark on how this stuff works...
I spent 6 months working in the US last year (earning mostly tips, so I am expecting I will have to pay something for that time), and 5 months (so far) working here this year on a monthly salary, but they haven't deducted any taxes from my income yet, other than the national insurance stuff.  I called them (DWP?) and they said I am allowed to earn up to a certain amount before paying taxes.  Since my income hasn't been taxed here, can the IRS tax my income from here?  This is gonna be so confusing for me this year.... I hate doing taxes!   
Sorry to hijack your thread for my own personal gain, PB!   

No worries Jewlz, its all confusing to me too. 

The only thing I can answer for you is PAYE is Pay As You Earn