P800 tax underpaid for 2005-6 and 2006-7

gothicgal

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone can help me. I received a big fat envelope from the tax man today with 2 tax calculations for 2 different years.

On the 2005-06 one it says that the amount of personal pension contributions included in my PAYE code was higher than the amount due so the calculation includes an underpayment for an earlier year but doesn't say which year.

The 2006-07 says that an underpayment for an earlier year was included in my PAYE code but the actual amount underpaid for that year was higher! The resultant calculation includes an underpayment for an earlier year but doesn't say which year either.

I've had a look all over about challenging these underpayments but everything I've found seems to only cover the more recent years (2008 onwards).

Can anyone give me any advice on how to challenge this please?

All help appreciated. Thank you.

chrismac1

Three step process:

1. Consider doing nothing at this stage. Have they said how they intend getting their cash? this may seem daft, but I advised a client with a £4k or so "calculation" to do nothing in Aug 2010 and at this stage he's not paid a penny and we've had no assessments raised.

2. As and when you get assessments, ask a million times for information supporting their calculations until you get credible information you can make sense of. These "adjustments" in my opinion are often nothing more than blatant errors, possibly made-up numbers resulting from getting one taxpayer confused with another, mixing up records on the database changeover etc. Until HMRC supports these figures with data you can understand and accept, assume they belong to someone else!

3. If all else fails, Esc A19 and the other methods which have worked so well on this site - look up posts with myself and / or Pennywise involved as a starter for 10. Let me take you a trip away from the mad world of HMRC and into the real world for a second. Suppose this letter was not from HMRC but from BT or Vodafone saying you had underpaid your phone bill in 2005. Would you be worried? Or would you just laugh? In HMRC land it is perfectly reasonable to hit someone with a bill entitled "Adjustments" 7 years later, I can think of no company here or abroad I have ever dealt with who would even dream of trying this stuff on.

Finally, in summary YOU WILL WIN. You have a wide choice of methods available to you.

gothicgal

chrismac1 wrote: »

Three step process:

1. Consider doing nothing at this stage. Have they said how they intend getting their cash? this may seem daft, but I advised a client with a £4k or so "calculation" to do nothing in Aug 2010 and at this stage he's not paid a penny and we've had no assessments raised.

Hi, no they haven't. However the "Understanding your P800 tax calculation" note says that they will collect the monies via my tax code.

chrismac1 wrote: »

2. As and when you get assessments, ask a million times for information supporting their calculations until you get credible information you can make sense of. These "adjustments" in my opinion are often nothing more than blatant errors, possibly made-up numbers resulting from getting one taxpayer confused with another, mixing up records on the database changeover etc. Until HMRC supports these figures with data you can understand and accept, assume they belong to someone else!

3. If all else fails, Esc A19 and the other methods which have worked so well on this site - look up posts with myself and / or Pennywise involved as a starter for 10. Let me take you a trip away from the mad world of HMRC and into the real world for a second. Suppose this letter was not from HMRC but from BT or Vodafone saying you had underpaid your phone bill in 2005. Would you be worried? Or would you just laugh? In HMRC land it is perfectly reasonable to hit someone with a bill entitled "Adjustments" 7 years later, I can think of no company here or abroad I have ever dealt with who would even dream of trying this stuff on.

Finally, in summary YOU WILL WIN. You have a wide choice of methods available to you.

Thanks for all your advice. I will have a look at your posts tonight

Mikeyorks

gothicgal wrote: »

Thanks for all your advice. I will have a look at your posts tonight

I wouldn't waste your time. Purely anti-HMRC diatribe and nothing that will help you in any practical way. Just in the same way post #2 is of no help to you.

1. Did you self assess (ie submit SA Returns) for 05-06 and 06-07?

2. If you didn't - then write asking HMRC to void the 05-06 underpayment as it should have been notified no later than 31st Jan 2012. Ask they treat 06-07 similarly as they have given a general undertaking not to dip below 07-08 for underpayments. ##.

## I've seen that on the HMRC website some time ago - but can't now pinpoint it. I suspect it was from an announcement by the Treasury Secretary. It's referenced in this MSE article :

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/reclaim/2011/01/100000s-more-tax-errors-found

As thus :

Gauke adds that HMRC is also working to clear the backlog of unreconciled tax cases from earlier years, but would not be chasing people for unpaid tax for periods before the 2007-08 tax year, although it would offer refunds to people who overpaid.

........ so, for both years I would refer to the fact there is a general undertaking, by Treasury, not to pursue 'reconciliation' cases prior 07-08. Then add that 05-06 is also out of time. If you want to firm up the Treasury quote I think you'll need to plough through Hansard. As I think the undertaking was to the House of Commons.

AirlieBird

Here's the Written Statement
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110111/wmstext/110111m0001.htm#11011152000085

Further underpayment notices will not be issued for years earlier than 2007-08.

Here's the instructions in HMRC's internal manual for dealing with 2007-08 and earlier
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pommanual/PAYE93095.htm#IDAAESMB

gothicgal

Mikeyorks wrote: »

I wouldn't waste your time. Purely anti-HMRC diatribe and nothing that will help you in any practical way. Just in the same way post #2 is of no help to you.

1. Did you self assess (ie submit SA Returns) for 05-06 and 06-07?

No, I didn't.

Mikeyorks wrote: »

2. If you didn't - then write asking HMRC to void the 05-06 underpayment as it should have been notified no later than 31st Jan 2012. Ask they treat 06-07 similarly as they have given a general undertaking not to dip below 07-08 for underpayments. ##.

## I've seen that on the HMRC website some time ago - but can't now pinpoint it. I suspect it was from an announcement by the Treasury Secretary. It's referenced in this MSE article :

As thus :



........ so, for both years I would refer to the fact there is a general undertaking, by Treasury, not to pursue 'reconciliation' cases prior 07-08. Then add that 05-06 is also out of time. If you want to firm up the Treasury quote I think you'll need to plough through Hansard. As I think the undertaking was to the House of Commons.

Wow. Thank you so much for that. Will write to them now

gothicgal

AirlieBird wrote: »

Here's the Written Statement
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110111/wmstext/110111m0001.htm#11011152000085



Here's the instructions in HMRC's internal manual for dealing with 2007-08 and earlier
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pommanual/PAYE93095.htm#IDAAESMB

Thank you! I wrote to HMRC and quoted the written statement and as a result, I actually got money back!!

Thanks again