Any point to filing on-line

Any point to filing on-line

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As posted previously I have a small limited co. client awaiting a PAYE / CIS refund of over £10k. I had half an hour to spare so thought I would phone the PAYE office. These are the bullets to save you the bother:

Nothing will happen until they receive a letter requesting the refund (already sent!).

After one month the letter will go to an HMRC junior who will manually check that the on-line return is correct (and manually tie it up to the CIS return).

Once that is done (about one month depending on workload) and assuming it is correct, it will be passed to a senior to review.

After another month (again assuming it is correct) the senior will forward to Shipley for payment.

So, we file on line and they still estimate a 3 month turnaround on refunds.

What can I say?!

Steven Holloway

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By adam.arca
19th Jun 2008 17:12

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Glad to hear something is moving, Steven, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you (and I'm sure you're not!).

How's this for a war story which I think, just about, falls into your moan about the inadequacies of online filing:

We apply for SMP funding for a client about last Aug. Chased it in Oct or so, but client still doesn't receive anything. Client tells us not to bother further and we start deducting the SMP from monthly PAYE.

Come the year end, everything is balanced off and P35 filed. Then client starts getting reminders and warnings for PAYE due; we check and this has arisen because Rev say they have provided SMP funding. We ring and say they didn't, but they're adamant they have.

What comes in the post this week? A cheque for the SMP funding which the Rev swore blind had already been provided and which they had included in their little reconciliations on the blue reminders. I'd say that's another example of their systems failing to cope with real-life.

And regardless of that, how can the Rev possibly justify taking 10 months to provide SMP funding? It's been so long I think the employee is back at work!

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By AnonymousUser
19th Jun 2008 15:39

Update!
Ok, once I calmed down I had a trawl through the inspectors manuals and it proved quite useful. There are some key points in getting a quick resolution here:

Request for refund must be made in writing (I suggest fax & email).

It must explain why a refund situation has arisen (e.g. excess CIS tax withheld by customers).

It must give evidence of genuine hardship and gives examples such as ability to continue in business. I enclosed a copy of my client's overdraft breach.

It should request an interim payment on account.


I had a team leader on the phone withing three days of sending the fax / letter. No refund yet but we are at least queue jumping to keep warm!

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By adam.arca
06th Jun 2008 13:01

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This is where, in earlier years, I'd have a quiet chuckle and smugly pat myself on the back for doing as little as possible online and sticking to the tried and tested paper method which we know works. I used to wonder "why do people put up with this s**t?"

(And that is in no way a dig at Steven because I know we are talking PAYE here and everyone including me does that online in order to earn for our clients the bribes ("incentives") of our taxpayer money so profligately given away by our lords and masters.)

This year, I've had to join the SA online disaster and CT is starting to loom also so I can no longer be stand-offish and smug. What does irritate me (let's be understated about it) is the way the Revenue can foist a complete load of rubbish on us that doesn't work when you get down to the nitty gritty like this (and often doesn't work, full stop) and then have the cheek, via Carter, to insist that it be made compulsory when no one in the commercial world would ever dream of offering such half-baked solutions. And all this because that pillock Blair once offered a sound bite about half of UK government being offered online by 2010 (or some such banal and meaningless target).

Sorry, rant over.

And as for what you can say, Steven, I'd start and finish with the four letter variety, also throwing in gormless, incompetent, criminal, waste, cost etc etc.

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