[Seeker]

I filled out my self assessment tax form for tax year 21-22. Prior to do doing it, I do a rough calculation as to how much tax I owe and this year it came to about £2000.

When I had completed the form, it told me I owed £2134, so I was roughly correct, plus a further £1067 on account, giving a total of £3200. What? Where did that come from?

So I call HMRC (FYI - if you call the Self Assessment number and the AI operator doesn't recognise your NI number it puts you in the PAYE queue - and doesn't tell you).

Anyway, 40 minutes later I speak to this young Scottish lady and the explanation she gave made my head explode. We had to go over it two or three times and I'm still not sure I comprehend.

If you owe over £2000 tax then HMRC makes you pay half of your tax bill "on account" in addition to whatever you actually owe.

HMRC thus gets to keep, in my case, £1067 which will be deducted from next year's tax bill*. What a con!

Normally, I pay my taxes promptly but this year I'll wait till the last minute.

* I think.