Should we be worried?

jennifernil

Sent off OH's paper tax return about 10 days before the 31st October deadline, but he has heard nothing back. No acknowledgement, no calculation of what he is due to pay, nothing.

I have a rough idea of what he owes and have set it aside. It has to be paid by 31st January and in previous years he has always had the bill or refund within a month. How long should he wait before contacting them?

He is with a new tax office now, and has a claim for double taxation relief, would this account for the delay? Or is there just a huge backlog?

chriiiiiiiis

I wouldn't worry. It usually takes a while.

You can pay what you have estimated that you owe, to be on the safe side.

CLAPTON

I would definitely contact them and check they have received it... will save a lot of hassle if they haven't for whatever reason.

Tallymanjohn

You don't get an acknowledgement, just the bill, but certainly a bit quicker than your timescale. I returned mine in July & got my bill in August. It obviously varies with different offices & also, because you left it 'til nearer the 1st deadline they may have been busier, but I'd be inclined to give them a call - they are actually very quick & helpful these days (in my experience locally) so purely for your own peace of mind I'd recommend phoning.

mswannabe_2

CLAPTON wrote: »

I would definitely contact them and check they have received it... will save a lot of hassle if they haven't for whatever reason.

Yes, totally agree. You should contact your local tax office as a priority to check that they have received the return. If they haven't, and you have no proof that the return was sent before October deadline, you will need to submit another online. This may take some time as I understand from my accountant that HMRC send out some sort of a user ID to enable tax returns to be filed online. Bear in mind that tax offices will be closed over Xmas holidays, IMO you should phone ASAP

jennifernil

Contacted them today. Return has been received but not yet processed.
Presumably we just wait till they send the bill now?

jennifernil

Further to the above, OH has got a reminder from the payment centre saying that even if he has not had a bill he still needs to pay on time. Even though he is not entirely certain how much he is due.

Hopefully he might get it in time, but if not, how accurate does what he sends need to be? If it is too little will they charge him extra, this has never happened before, but this is a different tax office now, and they seem particularly slow. Previous time he had to write to them it was 2 months before they even opened the letter.

Is it better to overpay? Just worried it will take ages to get any overpayment refunded!

The calculation is not straightforward for me as he had 4 sources of income in the year, and some from abroad, so double taxation relief is involved. Can I assume that he will get that and calculate on that basis?

chriiiiiiiis

Returns received before 31 October will be processed by 9 January.

CIS

Had mine back in December but only just found the letter - I asked them to take the underpayment by adjusting my tax code for 09/10 and instead they send me a demand to pay by 31 January. I'm going to ring them tomorrow to find out what's up.