Actually, just the taxes part...

I am gathering all my end-of-year earnings documents so my local, state and federal taxes can be calculated and e-filed in time for the International Revenue Service's April 15 deadline.

That got me wondering: What are the taxes like in England?

Not looking for anything too technical, just general stuff.... Who has to pay? When is the deadline? How is it calculated? What is the revenue used for?

For example, do you get refunds? In America, retailers actually urge people to spend their tax refunds on cars, carpeting, furniture and appliances.

Does England have something akin to the IRS?

Just curious...

Ooops... I put this in the wrong place.:blush:

I don't know anything about our taxes, don't pay as I'm living off my student loan. In fact, if you will excuse my hijack, can anyone tell me, If I have a savings account, do I pay tax on the interest if I'm generally not earning enough to pay?

I ask because I was setting up a new savings account and it asked do I want my interest net or gross, and I don't know? My dad reckons net, so then I don't have to worry about taxes at all, but then how does my bank know whether I should be paying or not?... May have to pop in and ask but if anyone here can give me an idea it would help :)

Turpz:

If you are currently a student and your annual earnings (including your bank interest) are lower than the basic allowance (I think it is £4,895), you can ask your bank for a Tax Form R85 to pay your interest free of tax (gross).

If you have already been paying interest on bank accounts when there was no need you can claim it back.
You will need annual tax statements from your bank for each account and an R40 from the Tax Man.

You can see the relevant forms here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxback/forms.htm

Happy Hoosier:

With regard to "earnings" we pay "Income Tax" on a sliding scale at 10%, 22% or 40%.
We also pay "National Insurance" designed to cover our National Health Service at varying levels upto 11% (the employer also contributes at a similar level)
We also pay our "local" Council Tax which is not payed per person but per property and varies above and below £1,000 per year.

The majority of the earning public in the UK pay taxes through PAYE (Pay As You Earn) where taxes are deducted by the employer (and passed on to the Inland Revenue) before a net pay is recieved.

The problem of annual Tax Returns are usually only enjoyed by the Self Employed or those earning income from other sources such as rental income from property or other "un-earned" income.

I think that we have just passed the deadline for submission and penalties start to accrue for late submission!

Our IRS is commonly known as The Inland Revenue but has actually been merged recently with our Customs Service and is now called "HM (Her Majesty's) Revenue and Customs"

Hi HappyHoosier,

I think because the UK is still such a socialist nightmare the vast number of the populace blindly go about assuming that the state has taxed them the correct amount through their employers and leaving it at that. I'm sure that there are many who do not take advantage of the opportunity to try and claim back items as deductible or even attempt to see if they are entitled to any other benefits.

The flip side is there are those who know the system more intricately than the revenue itself and screw it and consequently us for all they can get.

Basically it boils down to: The government'll screw you on what you earn, what you spend, what you gift and what you bequeath. The real kicker is when they tell you (with a straight face) that your taxes are going on reshaping hospitals or putting more police on the street ...... that's normally right before you get beaten up and then spend 4 hours in casualty.

Thanks cgksheff and Swan_Vesta

Very interesting. I appreciate the layman's summary.



Basically it boils down to: The government'll screw you on what you earn, what you spend, what you gift and what you bequeath. The real kicker is when they tell you (with a straight face) that your taxes are going on reshaping hospitals or putting more police on the street ...... that's normally right before you get beaten up and then spend 4 hours in casualty.

Swan_Vesta: In this regard, at least, American and English taxes are quite similar!:suspect:

Swan_Vesta: In this regard, at least, American and English taxes are quite similar!:suspect:

Sorry HappyHoosier - I was so caught up in my rant I forgot that lying, slimy, shifty, self serving weasel-like politicians are the same regardless of which side of the pond you're on :D