HMRC request for 2008/09 P60

michaelm

I got a letter today from HMRC asking me to supply my 2008/09 P60 to "check that you have paid the correct amount of tax and to bring your records up to date. This is because some of your employment records are not available to me" (?). Seeing as I've been employed by the same company (Northern Ireland Civil Service) for 25 years and pay my income tax by PAYE, my P60 is issued by HMRC, and I have no additional income, I fail to see how this is the case.

Anyway, I think this is leading up to a P800 demand for underpaid tax. If this is the case, what action do I need to take to get it written off?

olivetti

Your P60 is issued by your employer not HMRC, they should get a similar copy called a P14 bu that may not have happened for some reason or your employment records are incorrect.

Send them a copy of the P60 and you will find out.

ceeforcat

Unbelievable - so here are HMRC asking the taxpayer to provide information which they, by law, must have already received from your employer, in this case another government department. For 'your records may not be available' read 'lost'. What is the position if you no longer have it (more than possible if your tax affairs are as straightforward as you say)? Do you make one up?

chrismac1

As a practising accountant there is not a single week goes by but HMRC somewhere ask me for information they already have, or should have. Inefficiency and jobsworthiness is all-pervasive, which is why with the right senior management will tow things can happen at once:

1. Slash the backlog.
2. Reduce staff by 25%.

There is no sign whatsoever that the current management come close to being up to this task.

AirlieBird

Ah I see the usual protagonists automatically blame HMRC. There is always the possibility that incorrect data was entered on the P14 resulting in HMRC being unable to match it to the OP's record.

BoGoF

chrismac1 wrote: »

As a practising accountant there is not a single week goes by but HMRC somewhere ask me for information they already have, or should have. Inefficiency and jobsworthiness is all-pervasive, which is why with the right senior management will tow things can happen at once:

1. Slash the backlog.
2. Reduce staff by 25%.

There is no sign whatsoever that the current management come close to being up to this task.

Perhaps the 25% reduction since the IR/VAT merger has caused today's problems?

And after some of your less than accurate "I am an accountant" answers lately you are in no position to slate anybody.......

jimmo

What makes you suspect that this is leading up to a P800 demand for underpaid tax? Is your glass half empty or do you already know that you have underpaid tax and hope to get away with it?
As a career Civil Servant, admittedly as a taxman, I had absolutely no problems with my tax liability, completed my one and only Tax Return in 1968 and received my last Notice of Coding when the Married Man's Allowance was withdrawn, from memory, in the early eighties.
If you are a 25 year "desk jockey" it is very unlikely that you have underpaid tax but if HMRC's tax records have gone awry there is a very strong possibility that your National Insurance Contributions have gone the same way and it would be better to sort that out now than face a problem as you approach retirement age.
If you have your 2008/09 P60 send a copy to HMRC.
Easier said than done, but it is easier to deal with a problem when you know what the problem is rather than worrying what the problem might be.

Pennywise

BoGoF wrote: »

Perhaps the 25% reduction since the IR/VAT merger has caused today's problems?

No, it's the entire ethos of call centres, dumbing down, centralisation, that's caused the problem, because they didn't get their house in order before they did it.

There was chaos and inefficiency before, in fact, it's been that way for a decade or two, but at least in those days, the staff were generally older, wiser and more experienced, and worked in small local offices on local taxpayers, so they could paper over the cracks and make the best of a bad job.

Instead of tacking the fundamental problems, some bright sparks thought it would be a good idea to centralise, close local offices (and get rid of local experienced staff), and use call centres instead. The result was predictable, and HMRC were told many times, but they ploughed on regardless and now we've seen the inevitable outcome.

I don't doubt HMRC have a massive backlog, but how much of that is correcting errors made by their own staff, and dealing with inefficient systems.

Only now, are they starting to change processes and procedures, and there are also massive changes on the way, such as giving agents far more online facilities to "self serve" - thus greatly reducing the need for contacting their staff, and therefore greatly reducing the likelihood of errors. The less "human" interraction the better as the vast majority of taxpayer dealings can be automated *with decent systems in place* - staff numbers can be reduced far further once they have got their house in order.

John_Pierpoint

I once tried this the other way round and got very short shrift - the goose and the gander come to mind.

The easy way out is "stick it through the photocopied and send it off promptly". Then hope that it gets handled efficiently and any corrections to your tax/NI situation gets explained and you don't just get a weird change to your notice of coding.

System

michaelm wrote: »

I got a letter today from HMRC asking me to supply my 2008/09 P60 to "check that you have paid the correct amount of tax and to bring your records up to date. This is because some of your employment records are not available to me" (?). Seeing as I've been employed by the same company (Northern Ireland Civil Service) for 25 years and pay my income tax by PAYE, my P60 is issued by HMRC, and I have no additional income, I fail to see how this is the case.

Anyway, I think this is leading up to a P800 demand for underpaid tax. If this is the case, what action do I need to take to get it written off?

Given the absolute horlicks that occurred when HR Connect took over the payroll for the NI Civil Service I'm not surprised that HMRC haven't received your P60.
Surely you have heard many of your colleagues complaining about pay not received, codes not operated and HMRC not being informed in the first place of the change in the scheme.

poshstock66

I had the same letter today, wanting my p60 for tax yr ending 5 april2010. I only work 10 hours a week and have done for the last 2 years, so don't pay tax!!
Is it worth me bothering??