A plea for Tax advice!

[B.M.S]

I'm a NZer living here since 2000.
I've been mostly self-employed all this time. The two short peiods i was employed i used an assigned Nat Ins number. I have never applied for any NI, or NHS numbers from any Government departments.

For the last 4 years i have been self-employed but have never declared any income or filed a tax return. I estimate my earnings to be �10,000 rising to about �12,000 in the last couple of years. My records are poor and income has been sporadic. Now, my business has the chance to grow quickly and i've the chance to make it more pofitable. It's exciting and frightening. My decision not to file tax returns has been about my laziness, ignorance but also about surviving as best i could. Now, this situation i've created is holding me back, and i want to take responsibilty and try to fix it. However, i am afraid of the tax system i don't understand, i'm afraid of getting fined or imprisoned or being asked to leave the U.K. I would be very grateful for any professional advice.

(For the record, i have never claimed any benefit of any kind and have also been regularly involved in voluntary work for the last 3 years)

[auzzie]

Do you have permission to live and work here? That will need to be sorted as well if you don't.
There are penalties for not contacting the Inland Revenue regarding your income, you are supposed to register within three months of the business starting. You definately need a very good accountant, especially if you have incomplete records. This will be a nightmare to resolve for you and the accountant. Dont forget that you will owe National insurance as well, regardless of whether you have claimed any benefits or not.

[buildersmate]

Not sure what advice you are expecting from this site other than own up and contact HMRC. You will have to pay the back tax and some panalties for late payment, but I don't believe its worse than that.
In terms of the way the system works, its not that difficult. In round numbers, the first �5k of earnings has no tax due, the next 32k is taxed at 10% and after that its 22% (until one reaches far bigger numbers than your �12k, when higher rate kicks in). As self-employed, you'd also have to pay NI which is about 10% flat. Armed with that info you can work out roughly what you would owe.

[buildersmate]

the 32k should say �2k.