MSE News: Thousands more could get tax written off using HMRC loophole

janey2704

Just had £2,842 written off by HMRC after following your advice :T

Miketp

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

Following Martin's advice, I rang Inland Revenue this morning - and after a 35 minute hold - explained my position, and the result was 2 YEARS TAX ARREARS WAIVED!!!!!

Thankyou!!!!!
:rotfl:

seagulls01_2

Thank you so much!!!!
Using the template letter, I have just had £1270 written off.

GOOD WORK, BOYS AND GIRLS

EllasPa

A colleague of mine asked me to check her tax demands, as she had received a demand for £1900 for 07/08, which I checked and found it was due to widow pensions that had not been taxed due to a coding error. She spoke to the tax office and agreed to pay the arrears over 3 years. She then got another demand for £2700 for 07/08 and 08/09. With it was another demand for £4200 for 07/08,08/09 & 09/10. By this point she was in such a state and her next payslip had a large amount of tax taken out. She asked me again for help and I found your article by chance when looking for letter templates. I suggested she call them and point out that the demands were more than a year after the tax year ends. The lady she spoke to was so helpful and wrote the whole £4200 off. Needless to say my colleague is one happy lady. Even happier a couple of days later when she got a letter confirming she was going to receive £4000 from a PPi claim. A great week for a lady who'd had a bad year.

Jacqueline1949

Thanks a million. I cannot believe that the Tax Office has written off £2,477. I am a pensioner and downloaded the template letter. I completed it and sent it to them in August hoping for a lesser amount to be paid. Got a letter today saying they considered my case under Extra Statutory Concession (ESC) which allows them not to collect tax in certain cases. They said that they agreed that I have met the terms of the concession and they would not ask me to pay the tax shown on the Tax Calculations of £2,477.

Again thanks a million without Martin's template letter I would be £2,477 worse off.

bobrobert

I had a letter from them stating I owed £1700 + for years 2007-8 2008-9. I had already paid back £700+ in 2009-20010. Under ESC19 I pointed out they knew that information for more than 12 months.Good news a letter this morning agreed with me and I have nothing more to pay!:) Thanks for the information.

peter2873

I probably like hundreds of others have lost my appeal this week trying to use the loophole. My bill is for £3000 because I have a forces pension. The conclusion is that they have 4 years to resolve any issues and the fact that I had telephoned on numerous occasions to query my tax has no bearing. Seems it doesn't matter what you do while they use that 4 year loophole that they use. Makes it worse knowing I tried to see if there was a problem all along. I bet my bosses wouldn’t be so forgiving if I made such mistakes.

PS on my final appeal they increased my bill by another £300. Punishment for having the audacity to question them I guess. So no money off for me unfortunately. I don’t have that kind of money so they are taking it off me over a 3 year period so this will hang over me for some time to come.

Mikeyorks

The only '4 year window' is that which applies to PAYE under and over payments - the former where no evasion is obvious otherwise they can go back further. But it does not apply to ESC A19 which is what you are referring to and where the terms of the concession are clear.

But previous posts over the last 2 years do indicate there have been above average problems with Forces pensions. And a lot appear to have been more to do with deficiencies on the side of the pension provider and not HMRC. In which case ESC A19 is inappropriate and para 1 of this Note (which you received with the P800(s)) was the line you should have taken. But - ESC A19 or employer error - you do need to establish much of the fact before you jump?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/P800-add-notes.pdf

LynV

Hubby has today received a tax calculation just for 2010-11. He has underpaid by £144 apparently. They have him down for £2529 PAYE and £4951 ESA. The problem I have is that hubby has a stroke in January 2010 and has not worked since so how can he have a PAYE figure?

Mikeyorks

LynV wrote: »

....how can he have a PAYE figure?

A number of benefits are taxable and count as PAYE income. List here :-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/taxable-income.htm