Our lovely taxman

Fromtherough said:
I do empathise with your predicament and can appreciate your frustration. After all any error by HMRC in terms of a tax code will have a financial impact on the person concerned. I do think that relying so heavily on the employer is partly to blame. Also, if a person is in Self Assessment then their tax code is largely based on what was entered on this (coupled with P11d) and thus the information used is potentially well out of date. This is possibly where mistakes occurred with your Dad's tax code.

Real time information should have alleviated some of these issues though. Plus the new Personal Tax Accounts that are being introduced are designed to enable a person to take responsibility and resolve these issues themselves. I don't know how this will work in practice though. Unfortunately I imagine errors will occasionally occur, especially in complex cases. However, I agree - once notified you would expect HMRC to resolve the issue.
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Sorry, as has been said, they are useless muppets. They pass you from person to person and no one sorts out the mess that they alone create. My phone bill has rocketed and that's just the normal 45 minute wait for them to answer then the game of pass the parcel starts " I'll transfer you to a colleague who will be better qualified to help you! "Well, you're only one up from a plank, so they can't be any worse!"
 
I fell foul of the stunningly inept HMRC this year, as a result of the recent changes in legislation around child benefit.

my earning can vary a lot year by year due to bonus payments, and ive always been on PAYE, so never had to file a tax return

apparently underpaid by around a grand in 2013-2014, so got a bill, which at the time I didn't understand.

after 3 months of weekly phone calls, lots of different explanations and recalculations (from 'you owe nothing' to 'you owe 2500', it turns out the bill was correct and needs to be paid ASAP, and interest is being charged.

however during the tax year 2014-2015, due to a recoding after the shortfall in 2013-2014, and as a result of my salary dropping due to reduced bonus payments, I have effectively been paying too much tax, so a refund of around the same amount will be due.

can they offset the refund against the previous shortfall? Not on your nelly.

clowns
 
chrisd said:
Sorry, as has been said, they are useless muppets. They pass you from person to person and no one sorts out the mess that they alone create. My phone bill has rocketed and that's just the normal 45 minute wait for them to answer then the game of pass the parcel starts " I'll transfer you to a colleague who will be better qualified to help you! "Well, you're only one up from a plank, so they can't be any worse!"
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Tad harsh to be calling them useless muppets

Suppose this is what happens when Cameron's government has slashed hmrc's workforce drastically whilst also putting them on a pay freeze.

Overstretched under resourced and poorly paid....what else is to be expected
 
I've always a found the taxman OK to deal with, had a few dodgy tax codes due to my employer messing up company cars. OK you are on hold for a while but they generally sort it out there and then.
 
I'm constantly performing the Taxman dance as well.. My particular favourite is a little game we have where we are constantly owing each other the same £100.. This happens every year and seems to be a bit like the Chuckle Brothers.. To me, To you etc, etc, etc... This year it's been my turn to pay them.... :confused:

Self assessment is just a giant pain in the arse.. However, I won't need to do it next (tax) year, and they're going to owe me a sizeable rebate in April, so revenge will be sweet...
 
snell said:
Tad harsh to be calling them useless muppets

Suppose this is what happens when Cameron's government has slashed hmrc's workforce drastically whilst also putting them on a pay freeze.

Overstretched under resourced and poorly paid....what else is to be expected
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To emphasise what you have said, talking to sis in law re this, she said the government closed down all of the small town tax offices and started putting everyone in big cities it was classed as the future, saved money in reducing staff and flogging off government owned buildings.
However, in the olden days old and young would pop down to the local office with wage slips and talk face to face with staff and know exactly where they stood. Unfortunately them days are now gone.
 
Tashyboy said:
To emphasise what you have said, talking to sis in law re this, she said the government closed down all of the small town tax offices and started putting everyone in big cities it was classed as the future, saved money in reducing staff and flogging off government owned buildings.
However, in the olden days old and young would pop down to the local office with wage slips and talk face to face with staff and know exactly where they stood. Unfortunately them days are now gone.
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Correct.

People are getting moved from one work type to another given a day or so's training then being unleashed onto the public....its not fair on the customer or hmrc's employees. But the more they cut the public sector it'll only get worse I'm afraid.
 
snell said:
Tad harsh to be calling them useless muppets

Suppose this is what happens when Cameron's government has slashed hmrc's workforce drastically whilst also putting them on a pay freeze.

Overstretched under resourced and poorly paid....what else is to be expected
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If they tax me wrong, and can't sort it out, then they're muppets in the job they do.
 
Just had a look at my coding notice for next year. Apparently I owe them £72 in underpaid NI contributions, so they've stopped me £360 of my tax free allowance!?!. Oh good, another phone call these brainless cretins :angry::angry:
 
SaintHacker said:
Just had a look at my coding notice for next year. Apparently I owe them £72 in underpaid NI contributions, so they've stopped me £360 of my tax free allowance!?!. Oh good, another phone call these brainless cretins :angry::angry:
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If you're a basic rate taxpayer that would be correct. £360 x 20% = £72
 
SaintHacker said:
So I lose £360 to make up for £72 I owe, which by the way was their fault for miscalculating in the first place. Seems fair.
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Actually, you don't lose anything. Your Personal allowance will not be affected. HMRC collect via either an underpayment coding restriction or an outstanding debt restriction. These are deductions. Personal allowance is, well an allowance. So to collect £72 that you owe they have to restrict your tax code by £360 if you are a basic rate taxpayer.
 
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