Back in the day, it used to be the case (for me anyway) that if you exhausted all other available options to get something sorted out, you went through to the AAM team to get decent service to get things done. The only problem was proving that you had given HMRC a bonkers amount of time to sort things out and they had failed to do so.
I find myself with a payroll client whose last employee left in June 2022 and, in their final month's salary also had a change of tax code. This led to a refund of PAYE to the employee which the employer duly paid to the employee. I waited until the end of April 2023 (end of the payroll tax year) before contacting HMRC and requesting a refund (which is just over £400). HMRC said that they would refund in June 2023. They didn't. I called back at end of June, they said they would refund it in mid August. They didn't.
Mid September, I called the PAYE helpline three times to try to resolve waiting over 30 minutes each time only to get cut off on EVERY occassion. Steaming mad, I raised an email to the AAM team to resolve.
Their reply was that, on chasing this up, the PAYE team had recorded that we got cut off but, had intended to tell me the refund would be made by October 8th. Please wait until then and contact us only if HMRC having refunded the money by this date.
Needless to say, no refund so I emailed again on October 9th. The reply I got was that the AAM team were "looking into this". No hint of how and when I would refer anything back from them. I chased again by email to the AAM team on Friday and haven't received any feedback at all. Even the AAM team are blanking me!
First question. Is anyone else finding that the one last relaible part of the service has now broken? and
Second question. What what you do to try to resolve?
HMRC's levels of service just aren't good enough.
Related resources
Replies (10)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
Sorry, I have just read back my post / rant. The second paragraph should read "HMRC said that they would refund in June 2023" (not June 2023).
Obviously not having the best of days!!
it is what it is with the systems they have. if they arent forced to ensure something is sorted and dont have a mechanism to chase later you will be in recurring nightmare loop till they finally sort - in all good faith they probably thought it would have been sorted based ojn assurances by others and had no reason to believe it wouldnt be sorted.
corp tax services used to be a shambles like that with mythical workload - thankfully someone as ct services implemented the new procedure of ensuring stuff they previously missed is now sorted super pronto - thats been a complete revelartion that now when you chase ct services its nomrlaly one chase and they promise to sort pronto and it genrally is.
All you can perhaps do is if they have messed up beyond acceptable is demand that they actively call back to say cleared so you know it is. Whetehr they will agree to ensure what they promise is sorted is another matter - in some respects its not individual officers problems if sytems are such that they are not actively told to ensure they deliver what they promise.
I had no joy with the AAM on a payroll matter that lasted over a year. Initially it seemed really helpful; however it rapidly became obvious that the AAM has no actual clout - I just got a monthly email saying that the relevant PAYE section had been asked for an update, no response had been received so an update would be asked for the following month. When the PAYE section eventually sorted the problem I got an email from the AAM saying that they understand that the problem had now been sorted.
It seems to be that AAMs are ignored in the same as agents are ignored.
Thanks. Good to know that they are no longer effective. Shame because it used to get a quicker resolution to difficult or on-going issues which made its existence a really good idea.
Knowing this, I'll just go directly to the PAYE team again.
Frustrating but I suppose it is what it is.
Personally, after such a long wait, it's now time to escalate it to a complaint. Detail the dates that you've called them and the supposed time frame for them to make the repayment. Give them 30 days then send them a reminder. If, after that, nothing has happened draft a letter for your client to send to his MP.
Thanks mbee1, I think that I will send a written complaint. What really troubles me most about this post is the lack of surprise within the AWeb community. This shows what a low expectation we have of HMRC after years of rubbish service. It really should be an easy solution.......authorise someone to deal with the issue and get a fully deserved refund repaid. Instead, PAYE team (department A) don't deal with it so someone on the phone (presumably department B) looks into it, sees it is correct, passes it back department A to deal with it. Department A don't deal with it (again), so I call someone else in department B. They check it out, see it is correct and relay it back to department A to deal with it. Department A don't deal with it so I contact AAM team (department C). They check it out, see it is correct. Rather than dealing with it, they pass it back to department A again. Department A don't deal with it so I contact department C again. They check it out and, rather than dealing with it, pass it back to department A. For some insane reason they expect this to suddenly resolve the issue.
When you look at it like this, HMRC will have looked into this / discussed this internally SEVEN times now:
1. Conversation with PAYE helpline, April 2023
2. Follow up call with PAYE helpline, June 2023
3. Follow up call with PAYE helpline, September 2023
4. Correspondence from me to AAM team, September 2023
5. Internal investigation between AAM & PAYE teams, September 2023
6. Follow up correspondence from me to AAM team, October 2023
7. Internal investigation between AAM & PAYE teams, October 2023
This isn't a problem which has occurred due to staff shortage issues (although I don't deny this may be another problem HMRC has). It is an issue that, because staff either aren't authorised to or can't be bothered to resolve this properly at any stage, that HMRC's staff end up creating a seemingly endless process with ends up taking up loads more time than the obvious solution of resolving this first time around.
The whole thing is highly frustrating and a total waste of HMRC and my resources.
I would also suggest emailing Jim Harra directly about this - the email will be logged and dealt with as a complaint. His email address is available from a Google search.
You have only been waiting since April?
Try 10 months.
When I finally received a reply it was to advise me that HMRC had found £32 missing from the schedule I'd sent = £6 in tax. (they are wrong by the way)
Client is due over £1500 tax refund.
Apparently once I agree the additional amount the case will then be referred back to the original dept...more delay.
You comment about the 'lack of surprise' is that.. we are not surprised.. just resigned. There is nothing to be done to get HMRC to treat their 'customers' as real 'customers'.
And no where to go and no one to listen to our moans (dont even get me on the ineffectiveness of the Institutes).
Its enough for me to get myself together to spend an hour on the Agents phoneline waiting to get through.
Just to update. The PAYE refund has finally been refunded. I'm not sure if this was due to the work of the AAM team chasing the PAYE team for fortnightly updates or the fact that even HMRC eventually get things resolved if given enough time and reminders.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the post!
Or maybe someone on one of those teams reads Aweb and, realising that there could be a chase-up from Jim Harra’s office, thought they’d better sort it all out pronto.
