[Cherie]

How useless are they?

45 minutes minimum holding on the line if you want to speak to a human while they try to divert you off to find your answer somewhere else,

they have been sorting a tax refund for Mr C for 2 years now and we have finally got some money paid back but the amount is incorrect, not by 100s but by thousands....

They have such great systems in place that whip your money away from you if you dare go one day over the 31st January deadline but otherwise incompetence seems to be their middle name, and there is no one to complain to, according the the Accountant the complaints line needs a complain lodged against it, and I can't seem to find an Ombudsman????

Anyone know of any higher being I can contact

[Livia]

They were supposed to send me a refund but it never arrived. I tired of waiting on the bloody line for them, I wrote to them, then I forgot all about it. They took A YEAR to respond. A YEAR. If they weren't a government department but a private firm the lot of them would be sacked.

[Livia]

Oh, and I don't know of a higher being that could help. I don't think God herself could sort them.

[Benjamin]

Before you go further you need to have had a complaint resolved by HMRC usually before you can take it to the Adjudicator's Office if you disagree with their decision.

If you then disagree with the adjudicators decision you can raise it with your local MP and the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Like the Financial Ombudsman, most of the time you need to do it in that order or they’ll not consider it until you have done so.

[Oliver_W]

The government can't run anything efficiently. But nationalisation is still a good idea.

[MTVN]

There's probably a few reasons behind the poor service. It's a badly paid role with high turnover so difficult to retain well trained staff. Plus there's not actually many of them because of the push to digitise everything and because the civil service is apparently far too bloated as it is...

As for them being sacked if it was privately run well more likely it would be fully outsourced instead and the customer experience isn't exactly great for services which do that either. It's just symptomatic of a general trend where customer service is not a role which is well resourced anymore or characterised by actual human interaction. Appreciate it is very frustrating though

I never actually worked in tax but I did work for HMRC for a while. Sadly no longer though so I can't even pull any strings on your behalf

[Cherie]

Thanks all, will just let the accountant muddle along with it, its annoying though as he has to be paid, and we should have been done and dusted with this by now

[thesheriff443]

The government and companies now give you less of a service while charging more money
Self service tills , you are basically working in the supermarket and paying more while doing it
And the staff look at you like sh1t because the tills fcuk up

The other side of it you have people working from home and not doing their job
Logging into work while sat watching tv

Was paying an electric bill over the phone the other day got put through to a woman and you could hear her toddler in the background

The world is a joke

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Thanks all, will just let the accountant muddle along with it, its annoying though as he has to be paid, and we should have been done and dusted with this by now

…ahhhhh, its hugely frustrating…I feel for you/for Mr C…Mr Ammi had something similar-ish a few years back…not exactly the same but that also went on for a few years and then they agreed to disagree……and found a compromise amount to both agree to…at that time, there didn’t seem to be any ombudsman but I don’t know if that’s changed…all I can say is good luck and I wish you both the correct outcome soon…

[Gusto Brunt]

I am checking my state pension NI contributions - even though I'll be about 80 when I retire. That's what it'll be 80 the state retirement age.

Anyway, they've had the year 2020-21 as year not full even though I never ever missed a payment and have the proof.

I must have rang HMRC about 20 times in the last 3 years and they say they will put it right but they haven't yet. So annoying.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…ahhhhh, its hugely frustrating…I fell for you/for Mr C…Mr Ammi had something similar-ish a few years back…not exactly the same but that also went on for a few years and then they agreed to disagree……and found a compromise amount to both agree to…at that time, there didn’t seem to be any ombudsman but I don’t know if that’s changed…all I can say is good luck and I wish you both the correct outcome soon…

Its hard to understand, its not like figures have been plucked out of thin air, the income and receipts are all there, and have been sent and resent....it wouldn't be so annoying if they weren't as quick to take money off you, no delay with that, I am waiting for a small refund and looking at the government gateway it can take up to 4 weeks to refund....like why..

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Its hard to understand, its not like figures have been plucked out of thin air, the income and receipts are all there, and have been sent and resent....it wouldn't be so annoying if they weren't as quick to take money off you, no delay with that, I am waiting for a small refund and looking at the government gateway it can take up to 4 weeks to refund....like why..

…yeah my OH had all of the relevant documents as well but it still continued…and continued…and continued…and as you say with yours…?..it continued into multiple years…so it was either continue an indefinite frustrating time for the whole sum to be resolved or to ‘compromise’ on an amount….I mean, it’s unlikely that HMRC would compromise any amount unless they know that they owe more and so it’s a win/win for them…and they have all the time in the world to get that ‘free money’ ….very frustrating for you both, honestly I know too well…

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…yeah my OH had all of the relevant documents as well but it still continued…and continued…and continued…and as you say with yours…?..it continued into multiple years…so it was either continue an indefinite frustrating time for the whole sum to be resolved or to ‘compromise’ on an amount….I mean, it’s unlikely that HMRC would compromise any amount unless they know that they owe more and so it’s a win/win for them…and they have all the time in the world to get that ‘free money’ ….very frustrating for you both, honestly I know too well…

This makes me so angry, the fact that it is not a one off either we have to pay our tax to the last penny, I paid my tax last year and for some reason it recalculated again and I owed 60p on top of what I had paid, the idea that they will just come to an arrangement and they will take more than they are owed is very annoying

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Its hard to understand, its not like figures have been plucked out of thin air, the income and receipts are all there, and have been sent and resent....it wouldn't be so annoying if they weren't as quick to take money off you, no delay with that, I am waiting for a small refund and looking at the government gateway it can take up to 4 weeks to refund....like why..

This is what gets me with PAYE - when it's pervious years' tax miscalculations, they can seemingly very easily "adjust your code" to TAKE a bit extra each month to pay off an underpayment... and yet... mysteriously there's no such code adjustment to reimburse an overpayment.

The system even for current year fluctuations is absolute trash as well if you're on more than one payroll, it's supposed to be seamless but it simply is NOT, I've had lump sum rebates paid WHILST still having a monthly deduction for a previous underpayment. Like... if it's all in one system just balance it out??

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Quantum Boy

This is what gets me with PAYE - when it's pervious years' tax miscalculations, they can seemingly very easily "adjust your code" to TAKE a bit extra each month to pay off an underpayment... and yet... mysteriously there's no such code adjustment to reimburse an overpayment.

The system even for current year fluctuations is absolute trash as well if you're on more than one payroll, it's supposed to be seamless but it simply is NOT, I've had lump sum rebates paid WHILST still having a monthly deduction for a previous underpayment. Like... if it's all in one system just balance it out??

The whole system is just a mess, going to write to my MP

[Cherie]

Well this took a twist today, HMRC are claiming no tax was paid for the year 16/17, I mean...how likely is it the company paid no tax that year and they did not follow up, anyhow as the bank statements go back only 7 years, I started with the chat bot thinking wouldn't really get me anywhere but eventually I was put through to a hooman and they checked back and lo and behold corporation tax was paid on 30th September 2016, so wonder what will happen now, like how can they lose a huge chunk of cash, or were they hoping that the bank wouldn't have the record because the onus is on us to prove we paid ...

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Well this took a twist today, HMRC are claiming no tax was paid for the year 16/17, I mean...how likely is it the company paid no tax that year and they did not follow up, anyhow as the bank statements go back only 7 years, I started with the chat bot thinking wouldn't really get me anywhere but eventually I was put through to a hooman and they checked back and lo and behold corporation tax was paid on 30th September 2016, so wonder what will happen now, like how can they lose a huge chunk of cash, or were they hoping that the bank wouldn't have the record because the onus is on us to prove we paid ...

…did you write to your MP as well…?…it’s crazy isn’t it that all of the onus is on the tax payer to resolve any type of owed payment…

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…did you write to your MP as well…?…it’s crazy isn’t it that all of the onus is on the tax payer to resolve any type of owed payment…

No I hadn't got around to it when this plot twist happened, will see if now that we can prove payment and the amount that this will resolve the issue, I mean it should...but its the tax office so who knows

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Cherie

No I hadn't got around to it when this plot twist happened, will see if now that we can prove payment and the amount that this will resolve the issue, I mean it should...but its the tax office so who knows

…if only you could bill them for the time that you’re having to spend on this all as well…good luck, I’ll be pleased for a good outcome and quite quickly also…

[Cherie]

There has been a further twist, I misread the message and thought it was for just the year 16/17 but it is for both years, the idea that HMRC just didnt bother to chase up two years of missed corporation tax payments is just idiotic, anyway the bank have been great and have provided the dates and the amounts paid, although the accountant says they might still request bank statements... Urgh