Taxes of a EU citizen who worked in the UK

Question

I am an EU citizen. Seven years ago, I worked in the United Kingdom for six months. The work was given to me through an agency and the contract specifically said that I wish to work there only for six months (I wanted to get back to my country after that and enroll into an university). After arriving there, I opened up a bank account and visited job centre for an interview in order to obtain a National insurance number (NIN). Everything went smoothly and I got the NIN so I paid my taxes correctly during my employment. After almost six months at work, i.e. just before leaving the employer, I closed my bank account and the employer got me the P45 form. As I understand it, the employer is obligated to send a part of this P45 form to a British financial bureau to let them know. After that I left the UK and moved back to my country, where I started to study at an university, as planned. After some time at home, I applied for the tax return and the money were sent to me without any problems. So everything seemed fine.

My question is this. Should have I told some kind of British office (like the job centre or some financial bureau) before I quit the job and left the UK that I am finishing the job and moving back to my country? I have no reason to believe that anything is wrong - no bureau, nor the employer or the agency has ever contacted me in all these seven years although all forms had my permanent address in my home country. Plus, I already visited the UK like five times since and was never approached on an airport if something would be wrong with me in their database. But for some reason I got affraid recently if I am not still on the list somewhere as a person who did not tell anyone about leaving the UK and if maybe some bureau has me on a list as a person who quit his job in th UK, does not work now in the UK and owes some taxes because of it.

I would like to also mention that after finishing the job I (of course) did not apply for job seeker´s allowence nor any other form of support. I just left for my home country and started to study at an university.

Am I just paranoid and should forget about it, since I am sure the employer let knew the financial bureau correctly by sending them the P45 form? Thank you.

Answer 1

Based on what you've said, you have absolutely nothing to worry about with government entities, for a number of reasons:

No agency in the UK formally tracks the presence of EU citizens. Even if you were still in the UK, you wouldn't owe anyone anything just by your presence - if anything, if present and unemployed, you might have been entitled to benefits.

For most employed people, tax and social security contributions are withheld at source (i.e. from your pay) and all the relevant paperwork is handled by your employer. If you had been self-employed it would have been your responsibility to handle your taxes etc, but from your description you clearly weren't.

From your description you've already contacted HMRC, at least indirectly, and your tax affairs for the tax year(s) you were in the UK have been closed out - note that tax years run from April to April. Because you would have only worked part of a tax year, you were entitled to a refund, which you got, which is further confirmation that HMRC consider your affairs settled.

Additionally, seven years is past the time when HMRC can go into your past tax affairs under most circumstances.