MSE News: Tax chaos Q&A: How to fight HMRC demands

Mikeyorks

corners wrote: »

What appears clear from the thread though is that despite receiving 2 sets of P2 forms from HMRC I cannot recall ever receiving any P800.

Do you have that the wrong way around? P800s are only issued to a relative minority where there is either an under / overpayment.

P2s attract wider coverage with some 20M issued annually. Even so, some people will not get them.

moletteuk

I received a p800 underpayment tax letter worth £2150 last November for 08/09 & 09/10. After suffering long term ill health several years ago, my employer advised that I should qualify for their disability insurance scheme and that I should apply for incapacity benefit - the employer scheme then tops up the IB to a percentage of my former salary.

It seems I have been getting the tax allowance twice.
I have challenged the underpayment using ESC A19 on the basis that HMR&C have had all the info they needed. I have received a letter back from them saying I still need to pay and with the following explanation:

"We could not issue a tax code to your employer as we did not receive notification from either yourself or your employer when the employment commenced. Your employer forwarded end of year forms but these forms do not result in an automatic update of the tax code"

I'd be very grateful if someone could advise me whether this give me any grounds to further insist on ESC A19 or employer fault.

I am also concerned that I am going to get another P800 for 07/08 too.

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush

You could argue that it's their choice / inadequate systems that caused the tax code not to be updated, but in all honesty I think you're unlikely to succeed.

Diane60

My brother has this exact problem. He did not think he was responsible. When I looked at his P60's it was obvious that something was not right and that he was underpaying tax. He now only has a part time job, but the tax office was helpful and he is repaying back the money, interest free, over the next three years.

equado

I got the dreaded 'because we changed our system you now owe us £4,972 from 2008-9 and 2009-10' letter.:eek: Numerous phone calls followed with very polite young people from all over the country all saying they were sorry but I owed the money and there was no appeal, please pay up immediately.:mad: Fed up with phoning I dug out all my tax code letters (all 14 over about 2 years) and eventually found one from 2007 which said roughly 'we are aware you have a pension and a salary - you will be due to pay tax at 40% and we have adjusted your tax code accordingly THIS SHOULD SORT IT OUT' (my caps). I copied this with my letter asking for consideration under Extra Statutory Concession A19 and listed all 14 other tax codes. I just got the letter saying "I agree that you do not have to pay the following amounts. (Then listing my 'underpayments over 2 years) I agree to this under HMRC's Extra Statutary Concession A19". Yippee! :jKeep your tax code statements, folks, you never know when you need them!

Gwladys

danmonkey wrote: »

Do you not realise that your husband has not paid enough tax, therefore he has not paid his fair share?

You have been living off an income that is unfairly subsidised by the rest of society - and if things are so tight then you have been living above your means.

I am currently in the midst of a year of paying back additional tax because my employer did not notify HMRC immediately of a change in benefits. Am I complaining? No.

If your employer has not provided the correct info, they are normally liable for underpayments. Apparently my employer did not provide the P46 at the start of the year - I am about to appeal on that basis.

Mikeyorks

Gwladys wrote: »

If your employer has not provided the correct info, they are normally liable for underpayments..

Far too simplistic. 'Benefits' - as per the quote - are not normally signalled until after the end of the tax year. The employer has until the following July to submit the P11D. If you want the benefits correctly coded at the time .... up to you to deal with it.

Apparently my employer did not provide the P46 at the start of the year - I am about to appeal on that basis

You're unlikely to succeed under the 'reasonable care' criteria with that.

kateab

The information in your article is wrong. My concession has not been allowed because the info was provided to HMRC during tax year 2009-2010 so they have 12 months AFTER the end of the tax year in which it was provided, not just 12 months. They say that makes it April 2011 that is the latest they must notify of underpayments.

kateab

Mikeyorks

kateab wrote: »

The information in your article is wrong. My concession has not been allowed because the info was provided to HMRC during tax year 2009-2010 so they have 12 months AFTER the end of the tax year in which it was provided,

Direct quote from the article :

Under the rules, HMRC won't collect tax if it has failed to properly use information supplied by a taxpayer, their employer or the Department for Work and Pensions if the taxpayer is notified of the underpayment over 12 months after the end of the tax year in which the Revenue received the information.

..... which covers it fairly precisely?

janthemum

equado wrote: »

I got the dreaded 'because we changed our system you now owe us £4,972 from 2008-9 and 2009-10' letter.:eek: Numerous phone calls followed with very polite young people from all over the country all saying they were sorry but I owed the money and there was no appeal, please pay up immediately.:mad: Fed up with phoning I dug out all my tax code letters (all 14 over about 2 years) and eventually found one from 2007 which said roughly 'we are aware you have a pension and a salary - you will be due to pay tax at 40% and we have adjusted your tax code accordingly THIS SHOULD SORT IT OUT' (my caps). I copied this with my letter asking for consideration under Extra Statutory Concession A19 and listed all 14 other tax codes. I just got the letter saying "I agree that you do not have to pay the following amounts. (Then listing my 'underpayments over 2 years) I agree to this under HMRC's Extra Statutary Concession A19". Yippee! :jKeep your tax code statements, folks, you never know when you need them!

I did just this was told I owed £1700, had to appeal 4 times after first three attempts got 3 letters back saying I still owed but I had the 'evidence' in a tax notice from them dated 2002 saying they were aware of my pension AND incapacity ben despite forwarding a copy of this 3 times I presisted and with the help from the charity Tax Aid got a letter back in January saying'I agree you do not have to pay the following amounts..under HMRCs ESC A19':j

Payed to be persistant and not be fobbed off but caused me a lot of stress.