HMRC in melt down

There was a report on the BBC news this morning concerning 1000's of pensioners being sent demands for unpaid tax.This story has been floating around for a few months now but has taken a new twist as the pensioners have been told that bailiffs will be visiting to remove possessions unless paid in 28 days .

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/tax/inc...&in_page_id=77

HMRC
There's growing concern over letters being sent out by HMRC to people who owe tax, which state that their possessions will be sold unless they pay up quickly.
Thousands of Britain's self-assessment taxpayers have been affected.
HMRC says it has a 'responsibility to the majority of taxpayers who pay their taxes in full and on time, to take firm but measured action against those that don't'.
But Money Box has been contacted by listeners who owe a few hundred pounds in tax who say it's been impossible to negotiate a re-payment schedule with the HMRC helpline

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ox/9464716.stm

The above is just the latest cockup ,i have been self employed for nearly 20yrs and over the last 5yrs or so i have noticed a distinct downturn in the HMRC's capabilities to collect the correct tax or to correct errors .I have an ongoing issue where the HMRC owe me nearly £5000 ,i find it impossible to speak to anyone as they now operate from a call center(officially known as the tax helpline) and you cannot speak to anyone who actually deals with your tax affairs ,it takes a minimum of 3 months to open and read any corrospondence and if different departments within the HMRC are involved then there is a 1 month delay as that dept takes possesion of the case and then another month to pass it back to the original dept dealing with issue .My case involves several depts so i have been advised that it will be at least another 2 months before there is a result ,they recieved my paperwork on 7th oct 2010

In my opinion a dept as important as the HMRC needs to be run correctly and efficiently, even more so in the current times as it is important that the government get the tax due but are not bogged down with sorting out errors in tax codes resulting in under/over payments

[Mick Fisher]

Without bring everyone with details I have been in dispute the Revenue for the last few years over a tax refund which they ignore and their insistance that I draw on a pension fund I never heard of.

I find it impossible to phone as they just dump you from the queue and I get no response from letters or forms.

They are utterly useless.

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

Without bring everyone with details I have been in dispute the Revenue for the last few years over a tax refund which they ignore and their insistance that I draw on a pension fund I never heard of.

I find it impossible to phone as they just dump you from the queue and I get no response from letters or forms.

They are utterly useless.

This is the same problem i have ,when i do manage to speak to someone in the call center all they do is "put a note on your file" they cannot tell you anything as they don't have access .Going to my local tax office is no better as they don't have any authority either any more .They will just add the information to your file and then it gets lost in the system

[Mick Fisher]

Originally Posted by martyh

This is the same problem i have ,when i do manage to speak to someone in the call center all they do is "put a note on your file" they cannot tell you anything as they don't have access .Going to my local tax office is no better as they don't have any authority either any more .They will just add the information to your file and then it gets lost in the system

Not even a local office round here, they closed it down.

I have an idea the nearest office might be in Leicester which is a few hours drive away.

HMRC is just one instance among many of how the Countries administration disintegrated under NuLabour. Depressingly, IMO, there doesn't seem to be any indications of any improvement under this present coalition who seem to be more interested in making war on all and sundry than they do in running the Country.

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

Not even a local office round here, they closed it down.

I have an idea the nearest office might be in Leicester which is a few hours drive away.

HMRC is just one instance among many of how the Countries administration disintegrated under NuLabour. Depressingly, IMO, there doesn't seem to be any indications of any improvement under this present coalition who seem to be more interested in making war on all and sundry than they do in running the Country.

What worries me is that people are now in a position where they have pay whatever the HMRC say they have to pay with no reasonable way of appealing the decisions ,such as the examples of pensioners given the wrong code in error .They will be subject to the new penalties which came into force this tax year (6 april )which are much more penalising than previously

Length of delay
Penalty you will be asked to pay
One day
Initial £100
Three months
£10 each day - up to maximum of £900.
Six months
£300 or 5% of the tax due, whichever is the higher.
Twelve months£300 or 5% of the tax due, whichever is the higher.
In serious cases you may be asked to pay up to 100% of the tax due instead.



there are further penalties for innacuracy/mistakes on the returns

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/deadlines-penalties.htm#3

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by martyh

In my opinion a dept as important as the HMRC needs to be run correctly and efficiently, even more so in the current times as it is important that the government get the tax due but are not bogged down with sorting out errors in tax codes resulting in under/over payments

That's what we were told would happen when the Inland revenue and customs were merged, it'd be so much more efficient, despite losing 14% of the combined workforce.

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

That's what we were told would happen when the Inland revenue and customs were merged, it'd be so much more efficient, despite losing 14% of the combined workforce.

And that is exactly the time i noticed the downhill slide of the service .It is now a giant dept answerable to nobody .If you make a complaint it takes upwards of 3 months to open the letter

[Mick Fisher]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

That's what we were told would happen when the Inland revenue and customs were merged, it'd be so much more efficient, despite losing 14% of the combined workforce.

Just another job left half done.

They need to merge in the CSA, DVLA, MOD and the passport Office too for the complete cock-up.

[Ignitionnet]

Wonder if they've worked out yet how they managed to send me a letter informing me of overpayment of tax and a commensurate code adjustment then send me a letter claiming I had previously received notification that I owe them just over 2,000 quid in the space of a couple of months.

HMRC is a disaster. An absolute unmitigated disaster.

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

Wonder if they've worked out yet how they managed to send me a letter informing me of overpayment of tax and a commensurate code adjustment then send me a letter claiming I had previously received notification that I owe them just over 2,000 quid in the space of a couple of months.

HMRC is a disaster. An absolute unmitigated disaster.

and here we were blaming the banks for our financial mess ,it's cases like that ,that make me wonder if the treasury actually have a clue how much money we do have

[Mick Fisher]

Originally Posted by martyh

and here we were blaming the banks for our financial mess ,it's cases like that ,that make me wonder if the treasury actually have a clue how much money we do have

You and me both.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13203122

HM Revenue and Customs is writing to 50,000 tradespeople warning them to pay any tax they owe, or face big fines

Last year, the Revenue targeted doctors and other medical professionals and raised £9m from the campaign.
This was paid by 1,500 professionals, although 30,000 were approached

That was a huge success or maybe 28,500 didn't owe any more tax HMRC just thought they did

According the government, £45bn is lost each year through unpaid taxes in the UK.

A huge amount ,but why does the government assume it's money owed and not continual cockups by the biggest ,most inefficient department it has

[Pauls9]

For several months many staff where I work, including me, have had their tax codes rocketing all over the place like it was November 5th. Fortunately, our salaries lady has contact with someone sensible at HMRC (thank goodness there's one left ) and they agreed not to implement any of the changes till the situation was sorted, which has now happened.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by martyh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13203122

That was a huge success or maybe 28,500 didn't owe any more tax HMRC just thought they did

A huge amount ,but why does the government assume it's money owed and not continual cockups by the biggest ,most inefficient department it has

I wonder how many of those 28,500 healthcare professionals decided 'Sod this' if that was the government's attitude and decided to move to sunnier, lower tax and higher paying climes.

I have a fabulous way to reduce unpaid tax - stop asking for so much of it that it's pulling some people into welfare then handing it back to them.

Pre-credit crunch was a record boom, unemployment at a record low, yet more people were in receipt of welfare than ever before.

More of this, more of this, less:

[Chrysalis]

ignition they will still avoid paying tax or moan about it.

not so long ago the top rate was nearer 90% then 40%, so in affect in 2 decades its dropped a massive amount, yet here we are now with people moaning about contributing to society complying with the law.