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PAYE HMRC errors
I think that the majority of the people who will be affected by this will be the ones who :-
1. are not represented? As if there were the adviser should have checked the PAYE notice of coding to ensure it was correct and if not would have taken the necessary steps to get it amended. I certainly did.
2. Who do not prepared self-assessment tax returns? For those who do any underpayment would be indentified when the return is prepared.
I can imagine that the citizens advice bureau and other free advice centres like tax aid might get overwhelm but taxpayers receiving these unexpected demands.
Should the tax profession step in and offer a one half hour consultation to those concerns taxpayers? In my experience this can lead to referrals and fees which more than make up for the time given free of charge. I would be happy to do this if given the opportunity.
While this is another area where HMRC has let the tax payers down, lets be pro-active and try to resolve this rather than shout and achieve nothing...
Act AND shout.
We intend to take on these cases pro bono as we anticipate 90% of them will be fairly simple cases of "official error". So long as taxpayers have taken all reasonable steps to notify HMRC of any changes then I can see no excuse for HMRC not agreeing that it constitiutes "official error".
I also believe that we should shout about this. We should shout at the politicians until they get a grip of HMRC and make it fit for purpose, and, we should shout through any media we can. The more the newspapers, the professional institutes, and sites like this, shout about their shortcomings, the sooner the politicians are likely to do something about it. I know for a fact that at least 2 members of the current government do read this forum regularly.
HMRC's Debt Office
Have you seen one of the letters sent out by this office? They almost imply that you have defrauded the public services and they threaten recovery action and legal proceedings. Worse still, there is no mention of the possibility that the demand is inaccurate (which it is in my client's case - HMRC owe him £10k!) Also no agent's copy of course - just sent directly to the client.
I phoned them only to be told that they cannot stop these letters being sent out no matter what you tell them. They gave me the number of a processing office which turned out to be not a processing office - the person there was rude as well as unhelpful.
I am writing to complain although it may not achieve anything - at least it will make me feel a bit better!
Normade
s40 Administration of Justice Act 1970
Making threats intended to cause distress to the recipient when collecting a debt is a criminal offence.
Madhouse
I had a letter copied to me sent to one of my clients who is a self employed plasterer and a filmwork deep sea diver (when he can get the work) saying that on examination of his last Return he does not need to send in anymore Returns. He has had no PAYE work whatsoever in the 6 or so years I have been acting. Where are these people coming from?? He realised the letter was wrongly sent to him - perhaps he should join HMRC, he certainly appears to have more savvy than they for such things. As his Return had been so 'closely examined' perhaps I could put any old tosh on them and not bother with calculations etc?
In my Inland Revenue staffing experience (longish) it was the opposite of (in the real world as we used to say) "last in first out" to save redundancy payments. Long term officers who knew their way around the Tax Legislation over many years were offered early retirement so that inexperienced younger people stayed on (especially if they were female as females tend to have short service because of children etc as opposed to males who tended to make a career of the Revenue and therefore earned larger pensions - got that in confidence from someone quite high up the chain). These old war horses certainly knew what they were doing, whereas the younger element quite often realised that once they had passed their year's probationary period and became established they could hang up their pens and coast. It was a nightmare to managers and possibly still is. Methinks there are a lot of coasters out there?
The Ancient One