Payments on Account

Have I Lost the Plot?

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Client's 2017/18 tax return, showed a tax liabiliablit of approx £1,300, with another £650 due for payments on account for 2018/19 - client paid £1,950 in Jan as expected

we run the calcs manaually and then through taxfiler, so happy all is correct and that POA's are due

HMRC have not amended our clients tax return in anyway, but have refunded the payment on account. I've called them today and the agent stated our client had been selected to not pay POA's this year and that none were due for payment and that its a new initiative for this year!! I asked on what basis this had been done, but they could not provide any guidance or put me through to a manager

its making me think I've either lost the plot, I am missing somthing or its another fine mess from HMRC

anyone else having similar issues or able to provide an insight?

Replies (6)

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Tornado
By Tornado
04th Feb 2019 14:47

An astonishing situation!

Oh, but perhaps not. HMRC are pretty confused these days about just about everything, and are quite capable of saying anything to shift blame somewhere else.

A new initiative that no one knows about?

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By Paul D Utherone
04th Feb 2019 15:04

I don't think that it's a new initiative, but rather a problem with HMRC systems. The following query was posted on the Agent Forum today, and I am sure that I saw another thread there talking about issues with POA's not showing on client accounts.

"The following scenario occurred repeatedly during January: Finish tax return and client is happy because they are due a tax refund. TR submitted and HMRC processes a larger refund because they have omitted the first POA for 2018/19.
Phone call to ADL has been answered promptly on each occasion. Problem is recognised but it is too late to stop the refund. Client now owes the POA and payment is due by 31.1.19. It is easier to make payment quickly and avoid penalties etc as these just cause more problems later. Client is abroad / away / doesn't have online banking etc so making a payment quickly is not easy.
Client is very understanding when I explain the problem and ask them to pay the POA even though the refund has not arrived yet. They know that HMRC is so chaotic they do not blame me.
Repeat this issue again and again. More than 10% of my clients have been affected by this problem.
How can HMRC have let their standards fall so appallingly?"

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Scooby
By gainsborough
04th Feb 2019 15:08

Agreed more likely to be the error re POAs on HMRC's software raised before - HMRC also tried to generate a repayment for my client in the same situation but managed to get this changed before the refund was issued.
Can't believe this was a problem in 2016/17 and still hasn't been sorted yet!

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By Crouchy
04th Feb 2019 15:36

thanks have got it resolved and the POA's back on the clients account

only took speaking to 3 agents and a manager on the Agent helpline to do this as well ;)

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By ClaireShort
04th Feb 2019 18:39

Yes it's a problem with HMRC's system, I just had to ring up and get 2018/19 POAs reinstated for a client!

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By MzEden
05th Feb 2019 09:10

Just had a similar experience but with PAYE.
Client has P11d. Pays £800 due for that in July. November gets £900 refund. No one at HMRC has any idea why. January gets notice saying £800 plus interest o/s for P11d!

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