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Why is HMRC ruthlessly efficient just when you don't need them to be ?

20th Dec 2015
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Day in , day out the profession deals with HMRC , a necessary evil one may say. I have however noticed that when it comes to speed for some things they are lightning quick in spite of the fact they are hopelessly incorrect. 

I submitted my wife's tax return online and HMRC responded in days with a really stupidly incorrect tax code . In spite of advising immediately it was too late and Mrs Y got pennies in her pay packet. Just as well we don't rely on it to keep the lights on ! 

If this is the result of online filing then it looks to me like the wastage of resources going forward will be immense , both on HMRC's side and with taxpayers trying to amend errors , overtaking the current frustration at unanswered phones . My tax code was also totally wrong but I simply told the PAYE people to ignore it , a luxury not all are afforded.

It seems that their eye catches something on a return , even if a one-off , and in spite of other information supplied they shoot from the hip . Why can't they wait until Jan 31st and then make their adjustments if the outstanding sums are not settled ?

Mind you , this month's pay packet will be stuffed like a turkey . 

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Replies (3)

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By Tim Vane
21st Dec 2015 18:50

The title's bugging me.

I've tried to ignore it all day but it just keeps jumping out every time I visit the blog page.

I think you can have:

"Why is HMRC ruthlessly efficient just when you don't need it to be ?"

or you can have

"Why are HMRC ruthlessly efficient just when you don't need them to be ?"

But I'm just not sure that you can mix it up the way you have done.

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Norman Younger
By Norman Younger
22nd Dec 2015 08:51

Grammar

I am glad you pointed this out

I spent time on the "is" versus "are" preceding "HMRC" but I failed to reconsider at the tail end . You are correct , thank you for bringing it to my attention . I am normally better than that with these things

Well, if that's all that bugs you in connection with that mob you're one very lucky accountant indeed

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By User deleted
23rd Dec 2015 15:19

As a counterpoint ...

... just had a letter dated 18/12/15 regarding a small pension (£1800) missed from a 2013 tax return submitted 08/05/13 and they have only just matched it up with the PAYE records! 

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