The Tax Man and unfair credit card charges

calamitysammysam

I received a self assesment request for the tax year 10/11 two weeks ago which I have duly completed online (after waiting a week for the tax office to provide me with a password once I'd registered). The assesment indicates that I owe them £750 for underpaid tax.
Given that I am PAYE and have had a different tax code just about every quarter for the last year I can't quite understand how this has come about but fine, I'll take their word for it.
My husband has been made redundant just before Christmas, I have an empty property that I've been trying to sell since before we got married last year (and as a result two mortgages to pay) and have already dented my overdraft just keeping up with day to day living.

I called the tax office hoping to make arrangements to pay by installments only to be told that I have to pay by the 31st Jan and that I should have set the money aside to cover my tax bill. I explained that I am PAYE and so wouldn't have any reason to expect a tax demand, and also the current financial situation. Their response was to tell me to make an appointment with my bank manager urgently and arrange a loan, or find a credit card to pay it with. I decided to leave the bank manager out of it and reluctantly used a credit card to pay.

To add insult to injury they charged me £50- THAT'S RIGHT FIFTY POUNDS card fee to pay by credit card. I cannot begin to describe how angry I am at this:mad:. The petty part of me was tempted to tell them to take me to court for it, especially as I had tried to make arrangements to pay and can prove exactly how my financial situation stands currently.... but sadly the thought of a judgement against me affecting my work got the better of me.

Can they really get away with £50 credit card fees???

Mikeyorks

Several points :

• If you file SA then the calculation tells you precisely how the tax due is arrived at. So it should be fairly clear where the £750 derives from by comparing to your P60. Post the calculation figures and the Pay / Tax / Code from your P60 if you want someone to give a view.
• You had the opportunity (up to £3000) to have this Coded out over a year ........ if you'd filed by end December.
• The CC charge reflects exactly the charge HMRC has to pay to Santander (Billpay) for the service offered. No reason why the taxpayer should subsidise those who elect payment by that method? The charge is 1.4% .......... so I don't know what you paid to attract a £50 charge? Certainly not £750 ...... which translates to £10.50. Very outside possibility your CC provider treated this as a 'cash' transaction and added a fee. But that's unusual - and is clearly not HMRC doing it.

HMRC_website_re_BillPay_facility wrote:

We accept payments on the cards shown below issued in sterling by any UK card issuer. If you wish to pay by credit card a non-refundable transaction fee of 1.4% will be added to the charge. Some pre-paid cards look and function like credit cards and may also attract the fee. Any charge of less than £00.01p will be rounded up to a penny.

BoGoF

According to the HMRC website the fee is 1.4% of the transaction. So 750 @ 1.4% = £10.50. Are you sure that is the fee HMRC charged?

calamitysammysam

Thanks for your responses.

I didn't receive the SA request until the 27th Dec, and by the time I had received my password back from HMRC to complete it online it was the second week in January.
My confusion over how I had attracted a demand was solely down to being PAYE and having varying codes throughout the year. Nothing changed in my circumstances other than a change of company car midway through the year and I notified the tax office straight away. I've never had to complete an SA before.

I am very interested to note the 1.4% charge as stated on their website- when the lady on the phone took the payment she requested £795- I argued the point that the demand was for £745 and she told me unequivocably that there was a £50 fee for paying by credit card. I can't see why my provider would add that but I'll check with them first before I follow up with HMRC.

Thanks again chaps

BoGoF

Check your self assessment statement online and if the payment has been credited and see what the state of play is.

Mikeyorks

The £750 is more likely to be the Company car than anything. Typically the benefit is a year in arrears - you've probably brought it right up to date via the current P11D figure.

If the SA request was late - you have 3 months to deal with it. But I'm totally unclear if that extends the 'coding' out deadline

calamitysammysam wrote: »

when the lady on the phone took the payment she requested £795- I argued the point that the demand was for £745 and she told me unequivocably that there was a £50 fee for paying by credit card.

Very curious. I was of the clear understanding it's a fully electronic system - no 'phone number is provided? I've just had a look at the link - and that's certainly the case - just an electronic form to fill.

calamitysammysam

I called the tax office to see if I could make arrangements to pay in instalments. They told me I could pay on the phone by credit card so I did. Evidently I need to sharpen my naive ways when it comes to the tax man.

AirlieBird

Tax legislation, as far as I can see, only allows a fee of 1.25% to be charged for credit card payments authorised by telephone. (Legislation does allow 1.4% for authorisation by internet).

But all this sounds really odd. It makes no sense why they would request an SA form to be filled out for PAYE with a car benefit. I suspect the SA is more down to having two properties.

Mikeyorks

They used to have a disastrous Debit card facility running out of St Austell. Which couldn't keep pace with any volume. Hence the tie in to BillPay. Presumably they've kept the odd terminal (at the Accounts Office) to deal with such issues as yours. But that will go into the BillPay system and therefore the same charge of 1.4% must apply. They can't differentiate or be seen to profit.

As BoGoF suggested earlier - check your SA online and see it there's a credit of £39.50. Complain otherwise.

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush

Mikeyorks wrote: »

But I'm totally unclear if that extends the 'coding' out deadline

It does not.

antonic

You should have have been asked for your 16 digit card number and once that is entered onto the system the system will identify if it is a debt/credit card and if a credit card it will automatically work out the credit card fee, at this point the operator *should* ask if you still want the transaction to proceed - did this happen ?

calamitysammysam wrote: »

Thanks for your responses.

I didn't receive the SA request until the 27th Dec, and by the time I had received my password back from HMRC to complete it online it was the second week in January.
My confusion over how I had attracted a demand was solely down to being PAYE and having varying codes throughout the year. Nothing changed in my circumstances other than a change of company car midway through the year and I notified the tax office straight away. I've never had to complete an SA before.

I am very interested to note the 1.4% charge as stated on their website- when the lady on the phone took the payment she requested £795- I argued the point that the demand was for £745 and she told me unequivocably that there was a £50 fee for paying by credit card. I can't see why my provider would add that but I'll check with them first before I follow up with HMRC.

Thanks again chaps