HMRC sent in the heavies even though I paid tax for mother’s carer

theguardian.com:

It was my worst nightmare. Setting up a company, taking charge of a payroll, sorting out holidays and tax and national insurance for other people. Becoming an employer.

But that’s what it had come to. At 93, my mother, Marje, was no longer capable of looking after herself but she didn’t want to leave Manchester to live with me or my sister in London; nor did she want to live in a home for elderly people.

We heard of two great live-in carers who, between them, could look after her full-time in her own home. But my sister and I couldn’t keep taking out huge wads of cash to pay for them. We’d look like money launderers. As somebody who is financially phobic – and sought help from Martin Lewis about it – the last thing I wanted was to do something dodgy.

So with the help of an accountant I set up a company to pay for Mum’s care. Like so many people doing this with no experience of running anything vaguely businessy, I was out of my depth and knew it.

One thing I had worked out is I had to pay the carers’ income tax. I also assumed I had plenty of time to pay it. Enter HM Revenue and Customs.

I’d only set up the company last October but in February, March and April I received letters asking for “overdue payments”. I presumed they were a mistake as I’d only been an employer for a few months. Like I say, I was out of my depth. I assumed it would be the same as being self-employed, and I’d start paying the tax the following year.

I checked with my accountant on 20 April, who told me it was for real and I owed HMRC £3,069. I didn’t need to pay it all off at once, but being paranoid, I thought I’d get it out of the way. The money went through on 22 April. Job done.

Only it wasn’t. In mid-May, I received a scary letter from a company