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

GARDINER

A change of address should not be taken over the phone - that leaves room for abuse.

dori2o

GARDINER wrote: »

A change of address should not be taken over the phone - that leaves room for abuse.

Then do it via the HMRC website, even easier.

n_hatton

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.

I feel the need to backup her position. If I have underpaid i'm going to be a bit stuck myself (depending of course on how much I owe!) This seems quite likely as I have 2 jobs. However if they are as accomodating as they were of their over payment of working tax credits to me a year ago then it'll be fine. If they're not then i'll be pretty much screwed. I pay what I pay and work on the premice that they've got it right. If they've mucked up why should my finances be screwed up?! If they're fair about any repayments then there's no real issue.

Please remember this as well... you pay tax on everything you earn... and then you pay tax on everything you buy (with only a few exceptions)... the only thing they can't tax is their own tax.

GARDINER

Didn't know you could amend an address online Dori2o - I've looked at the website and can't see where it says you can unless I suppose you were to complete an online tax return and show the new address there. Have I missed something? I no longer work for HMRC and so not completely up to date.

GARDINER

Found it! Does it work? The online Child Benefit claim form doesn't

dori2o

Yes it works, most changes are processed within 72 hours.

chrismac1

most changes are processed within 72 hours.

This says it all really - any private sector database which took 72 hours to update and the company would soon be insolvent.

Oh, and don't let's forget the 12 week "mail queue" if you decide to write in. Has anyone here who works in the private sector even heard of the concept of a mail queue, never mind a 12 week one?

It's a different world in there, folks. Beware!

dori2o

chrismac1 wrote: »

most changes are processed within 72 hours.

This says it all really - any private sector database which took 72 hours to update and the company would soon be insolvent.

Oh, and don't let's forget the 12 week "mail queue" if you decide to write in. Has anyone here who works in the private sector even heard of the concept of a mail queue, never mind a 12 week one?

It's a different world in there, folks. Beware!

We know it's not an ideal situation, mostly brought on by a computer system that is unfit for purpose, and secondly because of unworkable processes, but answer this.

How many private sector companies deal with as many customers as HMRC does?

Some people will never be satisfied. HMRC could turn around the change of details e-mail within 5 minutes, but somebody somewhere would not be happy.

End of the line the problem is there are simply not enough staff to be able to deal with the work load, and it will only get worse when the staffing levels are reduced by 25-40%.

chrismac1

How many private sector companies deal with as many customers as HMRC does?

Off the top of my head:

Vodafone
BP
Shell
HSBC
RBS
Diageo
british Airways
lloyds
bats
bg
RTZ

With the added dimension that most of the above operate in 5 continents and at least 50 countries, HMRC is a stroll in the park to run properly compared to any of them.

And yes, they do drop the odd clanger like the £20bn BP dropped and the odd £50bn or more the banks each blew out.

But by its own admission HMRC under-collects over £40BN in tax every single tax year that is due to it. And most independent analysts reckon its more like £70bn because of the way HMRC fiddles its reporting of these matters.

Think about it. £70bn every single tax year. How big would our deficit be if we got even half of that in every year?

It is a total mess and needs fixed not defended.

dori2o

chrismac1 wrote: »

How many private sector companies deal with as many customers as HMRC does?

Off the top of my head:

Vodafone
BP
Shell
HSBC
RBS
Diageo
british Airways
lloyds
bats
bg
RTZ

With the added dimension that most of the above operate in 5 continents and at least 50 countries, HMRC is a stroll in the park to run properly compared to any of them.

And yes, they do drop the odd clanger like the £20bn BP dropped and the odd £50bn or more the banks each blew out.

But by its own admission HMRC under-collects over £40BN in tax every single tax year that is due to it. And most independent analysts reckon its more like £70bn because of the way HMRC fiddles its reporting of these matters.

Think about it. £70bn every single tax year. How big would our deficit be if we got even half of that in every year?

It is a total mess and needs fixed not defended.

The difference with those companies is they have branches in almost every country they do business in, How may companies UK dealings have more customers? HMRC operate in the UK, thats it, and almost every person who lives in the UK, and many from outside the UK have dealings with them. With a UK population of 61M thats a lot of people to deal with

I've already admitted that the systems are a complete mess, and this has been caused ny those at the top, for successive governments, not just the last one.

But, what more can those who work at HMRC do. There is only so much work you can deal with in a day, only so many calls that can be taken. The answer is simple, do the opposite of what the current government is doing and employ more people in HMRC not get rid of them, train those newcomers properly, and intensify the work on compliance by increasing the number of people within compliance, get rid of the stupid processes, get rid of lean and pacesetter, get rid of call type processes, give contact centres more scope to do what needs to be done with the customer there and then on the phone instead of bombarding the service office with emails asking them to do what the advisor on the phone is fully capable of doing, but is not given the scope to do.

This however will not be done until we go back to having HMRC people,i.e.those who have started at the bottom and worked their way up, back in charge of HMRC,instead of these so called business experts from the banking/financial sectors. It's pointless asking a dinner lady to do brain surgery, so why do we have people who have no idea about HMRC, the collection of taxes, or even the law regarding taxes, in charge of it.