HMRC Sends Derbyshire pensioner Doug Yeomans tax demand for £4.7 BILLION!

HMRC Sends Derbyshire pensioner Doug Yeomans...

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One is left wondering how on Earth this could happen? And moreover, how much the pensioner spent on the HMRC helpline trying to let them know.

As seen in a local paper, the Derby Evening Telegraph reports:

A DERBYSHIRE pensioner has been hit by the tax man with an unpaid bill....of £4.7 BILLION.

Doug Yeomans, 78, said the letter has ordered a direct debit will take out of his bank account almost £950 MILLION A MONTH, for the next five months, to pay off the debt.

The father-of-two said: "I opened the letter and saw the amount and thought to myself, 'I'd better start cutting down on the food bill then'.

"They must think I'm a footballer or something, but I don't even think that Russian bloke who owns Chelsea could afford that amount."

Replies (15)

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Portia profile image
By Portia Nina Levin
25th Apr 2015 18:00

(No subject)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
30th Jan 2015 13:40

Deficit

Government's deficit problems solved.

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By jbaccsol
30th Jan 2015 13:41

Wonder

What the penalties would be for a tax payer carelessly using an incorrect number of noughts in his return....

 

 

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By User deleted
30th Jan 2015 13:44

I had this ...

... doddery old boy put the value of his pension pot rather than the pension income on his return!

They did get quite heavy until I filed an amending return.

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Replying to RetiredTax:
RLI
By lionofludesch
30th Jan 2015 13:47

Pension Pot ?

Old Greying Accountant wrote:

... doddery old boy put the value of his pension pot rather than the pension income on his return!

They did get quite heavy until I filed an amending return.

Jeez - how big is Doug Yeoman's pension if his pot is £4.7 bn ?

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Out of my mind
By runningmate
30th Jan 2015 13:56

I would be happy to complete a tax return for him today for a small percentage of his tax saving ;)

RM

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Stepurhan
By stepurhan
30th Jan 2015 13:58

Whose fault?

The story can be found here, and is a little scant on details.

But examining the picture, the letter is not a tax demand, but a confirmation of setting up a direct debit. Surely he would have had to take some action to set up a direct debit so, as OGA has suggested, is it not possible that the figure originated from him?

HMRC should definitely have a sense check in place to query amounts like this, so there is still no excuse for this going out anyway. The assumption that HMRC have just pulled a figure like this out of thin air (as some seem to be thinking) just seems a little unlikely to me.

Let the comments about me obviously not working in practice (which I have done for quite some time now) commence.

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By User deleted
30th Jan 2015 14:00

Only 5 months to pay it off?

I would have wanted at least 6.

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By GWiz
30th Jan 2015 14:54

4742354255

The amount being ten digits, (no ones & twos) looks like a tax reference. Perhaps Rome will confirm: "... it seems its easier to get an audience with the Pope than speak to the right person at Revenue and Customs." so says Mr Yeomans.

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By MattG
30th Jan 2015 15:16

Other Errors

Whilst this is clearly an error and you can laugh it off, it makes you wonder just how many other random errors are made, but are for believable amounts and just get paid and never queried.

Could well be a reference number put in the wrong place. I once came across a customer account where the date had been put into the payment amount box - putting the account of a sub-prime loan customer massively in credit. The system then started giving them massive positive interest for the 10 days until it was corrected, wiping out the entire loan balance! Why the system would allow this I have no idea, but being the cold hearted fellow I am, I soon had the mistake unpicked and his debt reinstated!

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Replying to North East Accountant:
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
30th Jan 2015 15:27

Not proved random

MattG wrote:
Whilst this is clearly an error and you can laugh it off, it makes you wonder just how many other random errors are made, but are for believable amounts and just get paid and never queried.
You ask about other random errors, but this has not yet been proved to be random. If Mr Yeoman put a reference number in the wrong place, then the resulting demand is not random. It is based on information supplied by the taxpayer. I strongly suspect that Mr Yeoman is more than likely a victim of his own carelessness, not anyone within HMRC.

Yes, the amount is so ridiculous that it should have been double-checked, but there is no reason to believe that the figures appeared in HMRC's systems out of nowhere.

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Replying to Matrix:
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By MattG
30th Jan 2015 15:33

.

stepurhan wrote:

 I strongly suspect that Mr Yeoman is more than likely a victim of his own carelessness, not anyone within HMRC.

Yes, the amount is so ridiculous that it should have been double-checked, but there is no reason to believe that the figures appeared in HMRC's systems out of nowhere.

Point conceded - if this is an error made by the taxpayer then it is just a failure to sense check.

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By BroadheadAccountants
30th Jan 2015 17:56

Priceless

The look on his face when the bill arrived must have been priceless!

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Replying to Cloudcounter:
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By james3
31st Jan 2015 16:27

Re: Priceless

BroadheadAccountants wrote:

The look on his face when the bill arrived must have been priceless!

It's such a large amount that it's obvious it's an error, and probably quite funny (at least at first). But if it was just a few thousand out, and still within the range of being realistic, it would probably be more concerning.

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By SKCOX
31st Jan 2015 20:37

Data entry
One of mine recently received a water bill for c£150,000 on a two bed flat. Reason? Unmetered property, rateable value, decimal point in wrong place.

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