The end of the month ...

 ... and I'm feeling a little depressed. Quite a major contributing factor has been the deluge of PAYE coding notices we have received for clients over recent weeks. Nearly every one has come in its own envelope, with THAT flyer.

Every time I see that photo it really gets to me. There's just something about the poor lady's sad, bemused face that really gets my day off to a bad start.

Maybe it's just me, I thought, so we had a quick opinion poll around the office: "what do you think this woman is feeling?"

"Sad"

"Depressed"

"Confused"

"Whaaat?"

"Oh no, not again"

"Idiots!"

Only one of my colleagues thought "pleased", and I'll admit you can just about detect a sort of Mona Lisa smile, but the overwhelming impression was a very negative one. Which just about sums up our feelings on this latest batch of coding notices. For a start, why is HMRC sending out revised codes for 2009/10? If they are Month 1 basis, they will hardly have any effect in what remains of this tax year. Or if they switch someone from a positive to a K code just for Month 12 they are going to take a huge tax hit in the last pay cheque of the year.

It wouldn't be quite so bad if so many of them weren't wrong anyway. Now we have a pile of work to do to get them fixed. At least it will give the tax team something to do while we wait for the 2010 Returns to arrive.

And how come some offices manage to collate several agent's copies of coding notices in one envelope, without the accompanying flyer - why can't they all do that? The postage and envelope cost, and the cost of sending two copies of the flyer each time - one to the taxpayer and one to us - means the printing cost is twice what it ought to be! Hey ho, it's only our money after all.