2 Steps Forward, 3 Steps Back Part II

Why is it that people in debt never get the breaks.

Two days off. Spent almost all of it in bed, watching films, developing bed sores, couting the swirls in the artex ceiling etc. On the first day though I got some post that knocked me for six. The Isle of Man Tax office has finally tracked me down.

Back when I first worked two jobs I wasn't paying enough tax. I sort of knew it at the time, but would you have said anything if you were in my shoes? I needed every penny I could get just to make ends meet, but they eventually found me and I had to borrow the money to pay the huge tax bill.

The following year I made sure I didn't make the same mistake again. For the whole 12 months I assumed I was paying the right tax and I survived on the money I took home. Sadly, on the day I was leaving the Island to move to Southampton, I got my tax assessment.... I owed them about 600 quid. I was paying the right tax for each of my jobs individually, but my combined salary put me into the higher tax bracket, meaning I was falling short on my payments every month.

What to do? Well I did the only thing I could do, I ignored it. I hadn't passed on my address to anyone in the Isle of Man, I was no longer going to be paying IOM tax, so I ran away from it. I wasn't planning on returning anytime soon - if Southampton didn't work out I was more likely to go cap in hand to my parents house. Now though, they have got my address.

I assume it's because the UK tax office has passed on the info. If it's by any other means there must have been a breach of the Data Protection Act somewhere along the line. At the moment it's just a form they've sent me, asking me to confirm my details and prove I'm no longer an IOM resident, but there is one tiny section that I know is going to haunt me...

"Please provide a contact phone number or email address. We may need to contact you if there are any outstanding matters concerning you and the IOM Treasury"

Well I'll complete the form and send it back, but only at the last minute. By the time they send me the outstanding bill (which I'm sure will now have charges and interest added) I should have got my Christmas bonus. I was hoping to treat myself to a new pair of glasses with that...

...looks like that'll have to wait for another year.