Claiming costs from HMRC

Requesting compensation for errors

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After a long drawn out saga in trying to resolve issues regarding PAYE arrears for one of our clients which resulted in re-submitted RTI declarations and all sorts of other nonsense that was unnecessary because HMRC help lines failed to 'help' I resorted to an official complaint. This did get to the bottom of the matter which ultimately was a straight forward answer from HMRC to a question posed months earlier but not dealt with. The chap dealing with this, both in a telephone conversation and subsequent letter, has suggested that I should consider rendering an invoice for wasted time due to the poor manner that the issue was dealt with by HMRC. He has advised that he personally can not guarantee payment but there is a facilty for this to be considered and he would pass any such invoice on for consideration. Has any body had any such experience? What basis should be used for charging for my time and an employees time in endless telephone calls and letters. Obviously I have our time records but I'm not quite sure how to approach this in a reasonable way. Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks 

Replies (7)

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By SteveHa
10th Jan 2018 11:43

I've never succeeded. However, I understand that you would have to invoice the client, and the client is the one who then claims recompense.

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Oaklea
By Chris.Mann
10th Jan 2018 12:00

From my experience, the question of additional "professional costs" is not as straightforward as it once was. As SteLacca explains, you bill your client, for the additional time and, in turn, if and when they pay the account, you send the (original) receipted account to the relevant department.
If you decide to pursue the matter, you will need to provide dates and detail of; the event and, the time engaged. You might consider that an hourly rate of £100 is not out of the question, however, this could come as a surprise to the client?
Do consider that, even though your client may be willing to pay your account, for the additional time costs, that does not guarantee that HMRC will reimburse them.
Since the era of austerity I've generally given up on this scenario as one of life's lost causes.

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By claudialowe
10th Jan 2018 12:29

I've tried twice and succeeded twice.

First was trying to persuade HMRC that the tax refund paid to my client did not belong to her, and they had melded her details with someone living the opposite end of the country!

Second one 18 months ago, HMRC were asked to transfer sole trader PAYE/CIS details to Ltd Co - they moved the names but not the £££, so Ltd Co showed as owing £25K and sole trader having overpaid by £25K.

Both of my invoices were c£250.00 and they paid my clients quite quickly. Second one, I even managed to get them to pay £75 for distress caused to client's wife :-) Actually as she had to deal with the Field Force Officer on her doorstep, I felt that was deserved.

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PJ
By paulgrca.net
10th Jan 2018 12:57

Yes I have done this on a number of occasions and been successful each time.
Be sure of your facts - list all time spent (dates etc.) and charge at your standard charge out rate - make sure your letter spells out exactly what happened and when. It is time consuming gathering all the facts together but avoids further hassle - good luck.

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By cbp99
10th Jan 2018 13:06

Have done this several times with success. Payment is made to the client when HMRC receive your receipted invoice.

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By mbee1
10th Jan 2018 14:18

I've done it the once although I had involved my client's local MP who was the Speaker, John Bercow. Amazing how a letter goes straight to the top and I had a response from the then head at HMRC, Lin Homer, within 2 days and the matter was completely sorted in less than a week later. I had been trying for months. Invoice was paid promptly too.

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By Peter-S
11th Jan 2018 08:48

Thanks for your help ladies and gents, I shall give it a go. When the tax returns are all done!

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