Unpaid VAT notice and warning letter

HMRC silliness!!

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So my client received a letter for the late payment or non-payment of VAT for the December 19 quarter today.   Being her first VAT quarter she was quite alarmed and asked us to check.  She showed evidence that it was paid on 7th, and my records show that the VAT return was filed on the 7th.

I called HMRC to check.   Got a very rude guy who appeared to hate his job and all callers.   He informed me that she had short paid her VAT by .... 69p!  When I asked whether the warning letter was proportionate to the amount short-paid, his response was 'the fact is she didn't pay the amount of VAT that was due'.

Unbelievable!  

I don't actually have a question.  I just wanted to vent that I wasted a quarter of an hour of my life over 69p.

What happened to 'treating the customer fairly' part of their stupid charter?

Replies (4)

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By Matrix
28th Feb 2020 17:37

I know and then clients blame us for the snotty letters.

I just filed a VAT return under the annual accounting scheme and realised the client had underpaid by £1 last year so am surprised HMRC didn’t remove the business from the scheme.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
28th Feb 2020 18:26

Was the letter posted first or second class ?

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By frankfx
28th Feb 2020 20:14

Perhaps a letter, second class pre price increase, to Jim Harra,.

Invite him to listen to the 69p exchange.

Ask the CEO to explain if this is aligned with his objectives.

civilserviceworld.com/articles/feature/hmrc-chief-exec-jim-harra-transforming-tax-reforming-behaviour-and-sabotaging-santa

Shows the scale of the problem

No wonder tax collectors...... businesses. And their accountants! Are peeved.

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By Lauren.Hawkes
02nd Mar 2020 10:33

A client of mine had the same, two letters now demanding payment for Nov Qtr. Although he paid on 27th December, long before the 7th deadline. His problem? One incorrect number in the VAT reference therefore the money is sitting in their high interest account no doubt whilst they ignore my letter explaining what had happened.

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