My Form 11 HELL!!!!

mittensmcl

For the past few years I have worked as a full time PAYE employee, but also earned bits of money here and there doing freelance work , which I hadn't paid tax on (through pure ignorance of the tax system).

I had been told by an employer back in 2006 to register as self-employed, as I was working as a freelance journalist for 3 months on the summer break from college and the employer wasn't going to tax me at source.

Every year since, I have been sent the Form 11, which is the Income Tax Pay and File return for self employed people. I have never been fully self employed or owned my own business. I paid taxes through my full time employer, but earned a few hundred euro a year through freelance journalism work. Because Form 11 was SO daunting and looked for accounts records etc I just kind of put it to the back of my mind.

I contacted the tax office in 2009 because I wanted to get it sorted and pay any tax I owed. I told them I had never really been self employed, and didn't own my own business or make my living from freelancing. I filled out the Form 11s as best I could and sent them off. However, Revenue have continued to send me Form 11s every year as if I'm self employed. I was let go from my job in Sept 2010 having paid PRSI for 5 years and when I went in to claim Job Seeker's Benefit I nearly didn't get it because there was a note on my file that I had been self employed for years. I had to make the guy check again to see that I had been working full time.

I didn't earn anything from freelance work in 2010 and so I thought the scourge of the Form 11s was over. Then, in the post last week, the Form 11 for 2009 came back to me, saying it had been incorrectly filled in and was missing loads of information. This is despite recieving a balancing statement for 2009 stating that all my tax affairs are in order. I rang Revenue and was accused of trying to dodge tax!!! I agreed to fill in all the details for 2009 again and send it back though. Anything for an easy life!

Then, a few weeks back, I sent off a P50 to claim back tax since I became unemployed. I've been unemployed since September 2010, but went back to work for my employers for 4 days over Christmas. They told me however that I wasn't on their books anymore and would not be issuing me with a new p45. My p50 was sent back to me because I included a note saying I had worked for the 4 days and I wasn't sure how to pay tax on it.

I rang Revenue today to see how to get around this, and the lady told me to fill out Form 12, which assesses additional income for PAYE workers.

My question is: Why did nobody ever tell me to fill out Form 12 before, instead of treating me like I was full time self employed for years and me going through years of anxiety over these complicated forms.

I wasn't trying to dodge tax! I was just earning a few hundred extra a year, but they made it so complicated and taxing (excuse the pun) that it would put you off trying to rectify things!

mittensmcl

I should also have said that I contacted Revenue several times between 2006 and 2009 to say I wasn't self employed, but they never seemed to take any notice. I even put it in writing, but continued to recieve the forms