HMRC self assessment tax website: “You have a new tax statement”

November 29, 2022 6:07 AM

The HMRC sent me an email, I logged into government gateway and it says “you have a new tax statement.” I click, they say it’s been prepared and will be online within four working days…

Folks. I can’t. I just can’t. My brother died this year, my stalker has flared up, I do not have four days of coaching myself in me, I’ve not got it, so I want every CRUMB of other people’s experience of what this might be. Might they be charging me more tax? I’m self assessed, I filed ages ago (with the help of an accountant), and I got a letter from HMRC in October stating what I needed to pay.

I’ve got a message out to the accountant (hate the word message by now!) and am waiting, like a powerless so and so, for them to call me back, but I will not set myself up to expect that they actually will call back.

So, have any of you folks ever had this online notification from HMRC, and what did it mean when you had it?

Thanks, you might just help me be able to sleep and work with your answers.

I’m already doing everything I can about my feelings, this post is about HMRC and keeping answers in scope will save my limited energy.

posted by The Last Sockpuppet to Work & Money (5 answers total)

If you've filed and HMRC have told you what you need to pay then from experience as a fellow self-assessor it is very, very unlikely that amount has changed.

It is most likely literally a tax statement that shows what you've paid and what it's been used for.

If you're really worried you can contact HMRC and, again from experience, they're very helpful and friendly (plus the wait time was less than 2 minutes when I called, which was unexpected). They will tell you what the statement refers to, even if they can't necessarily tell you exactly what's in it.
posted by underclocked at 6:59 AM on November 29, 2022

I hope my response brings some energy and comfort, so that you can sleep and recharge.

I've had several of these messages from HMRC in the past and while it's been very frustrating to jump through all the login and other hoops to get to the actual message, there are very few surprises or curveballs with them. Every single time the message itself has been a welcome-yet-banal update of stress-relieving nothingness. Either the report was exactly as expected (e.g., everybody did their jobs, the numbers added up like you reported, and here's your proof) or it was a helpful reminder that something was coming up in 3-6 months' time. Although this year was a happy surprise message that I overpaid my self-assessment by a rather large amount and they were sending a check my way. I actually knew this, but with everything stressful happening in my life at the time (because sometimes self-coaching is simply surviving — and I say this as a certified coach who also sometimes just. can't. with. the. world.), I forgot this was coming down the pike.

My guess is that it's very likely the message you received falls in one of the three scenarios above. Hope these crumbs provide some helpful morsels of much-needed nourishment and wishing you the best with everything else too.
posted by iamkimiam at 7:39 AM on November 29, 2022

I got this exact same message today. Logged on, says to wait 4 days, but when I click through it reassured me of the amount due at the end of January 2023 which was the same as from the calculation from my SA tax return 2021-2022. So it'll just be for usual statement they send out to remind you of that amount becoming due (which you'll have calculated from your SA tax return this year). Did you sign up for paperless billing? That's the only change I've made. I think they send this preparatory email so you don't miss the next (usual annual) one.
posted by atlantica at 8:13 AM on November 29, 2022

I got one of these the other day and when I logged on it was just my existing statement from June. Nothing had changed. I think it's just to remind you about paying whatever is due at the end of January.
posted by dowcrag at 5:09 AM on November 30, 2022

Thanks for your help you folks! It was absolutely just this reminder as atlantica said. I managed to WORK and SLEEP! I appreciate you all so much!
posted by The Last Sockpuppet at 9:31 AM on November 30, 2022