Halifax have caused me to lose my ISA allowance

pqrdef

I'm not clear that the old provider should have reported these subscriptions. It was my understanding that the old provider passes all necessary information on to the new provider, and the new provider is then responsible for reporting to HMRC at the year end.

If Halifax told HMRC that you made a full year's subscription on the transfer date, that's near enough to the truth for the taxman's purposes - so long as the old provider doesn't also report the account.

This is why it's vital to use the transfer procedure. In this case, the taxman seems to be under the impression that the money was withdrawn from the old account, rather than transferred.

innovate

jamiex wrote: »

I transferred the whole of the old ISA into the new ISA.

£15,985.61 was transferred in, which is what was in the old ISA plus any interest accrued at the time of the transfer. This transfer happend on 10th March 2011 (I'd paid £5100 into the old ISA on 28th April 2010).
Nothing further was paid into the ISA in that tax year.

£2,342.96 + £29.57 was voided from my ISA. The £29.57 was paid in tax to HMRC, and the £2342.96 was paid into my current account (which, by the way, was left there at 0% interest for around 6 months while I was waiting for them to sort the problem out).

The balance is now £15,639.53 (as I did make some contributions in the 2011/12 tax year)

OK, thanks - looks pretty clear that either

1. somehow Halifax made a mistake in what they reported to the HMRC, or
2. somehow the HMRC made a mistake in what they asked Halifax to do, or
3. a combination of the above two

In all three cases, I would expect Halifax to assume responsibility for correcting the situation.

You should definitely be getting the issue resolved to your satisfaction through the FOS, though it can take a number of months before they even look at your case. It would probably be considerably faster to go the Lloyds Executive route.

If I were you, I would write to the Lloyds/Halifax Boss, Antonio Horta-Osorio, at antonio.osorio at lloydsbanking dot com (I have to write it like that otherwise MSE forum software replaces it with asterisks!). He obviously won't deal with your inquiry himself, but he has an Executive Complaints Team that is equipped with more brains and powers than the normal complaints team. I am sure Mr Osorio and his team will appreciate to be given the opportunity to resolve this issue before you have no option but to go to the FOS, and/or the Press....

Another route you could consider is to go to the Press. For instance, the Sunday Times ("Money" section) regularly takes up consumer issues, and publishes the results in some detail (with your agreement, obviously). Other papers do similar. I can't imagine Halifax would be keen to see this in the Press.

Good luck, and please keep us informed of the progress

innovate

pqrdef wrote: »

This is why it's vital to use the transfer procedure. In this case, the taxman seems to be under the impression that the money was withdrawn from the old account, rather than transferred.

You are right, following the official transfer procedure is vital for ISA transfers. With the numbers and dates involved, though, it is clear that jamiex did do the right things, and that Halifax and the taxman between them messed it up somewhere.

jamiex

Thanks for all of your replies. I have definitely followed the correct procedure, it's the bank that hasn't.

From what I understand from my several initial phone calls, both banks inform HMRC about that tax year's contributions, but they should have matching dates of first subscription so they know it's the same ISA. Although surely that would leave a loophole - opening two ISAs and subscribing at the same time would never be detected, so maybe it doesn't work like that.

I've now e-mailed the CEO so I'll let you know if/when I get a response.

If I did want to talk to the press, who would I contact? The Times' website is behind a paywall so couldn't see too much.

innovate

jamiex wrote: »

If I did want to talk to the press, who would I contact? The Times' website is behind a paywall so couldn't see too much.

For the Times, you could either buy the paper, or you could try their CS livechat to get a contact email for their "Money" people.

The Telegraph has an 'agony aunt', Jessica Gorst-Williams, who would probably be interested to hear.

[STRIKE]Jeremy Bullmore[/STRIKE] is the Guardian's equivalent agony uncle.
Actually, looks like the wrong guy -- better try Mark King

and I am sure there are others. I don't have their email addresses, but I am sure you can find them.

Froggitt

Full year's subscription for 2010/11 made in one ISA
Transfer this ISA to Halifax within the same tax year.

Isnt the error yours, asking to transfer an ISA in the same tax year as you subscribed to it? I thought you couldnt do that.

jamiex

Froggitt wrote: »

Isnt the error yours, asking to transfer an ISA in the same tax year as you subscribed to it? I thought you couldnt do that.

The rules state that you can't fund more than one ISA in the same tax year. You're allowed to transfer your ISA as many times as you wish, as long as the current year's subscriptions are transferred in full.

I think the rules around ISAs are quite widely misunderstood.

innovate

jamiex wrote: »

I think the rules around ISAs are quite widely misunderstood.

Agree - and, frighteningly, by bank staff, too.

mulronie

jamiex wrote: »

• HMRC write to me to tell me that they will instruct Halifax to void the subscription, and I should write to them with proof with in 30 days. In hindsight I should’ve obtained proof from Halifax and done this

Regardless of Halifax's obvious error in processing the transfer, you did drop the ball here I'm afraid and hopefully you can learn from it for the future - I'm not saying that makes anything your fault, but your life would have been much easier if you'd dealt with the HMRC letter properly

Regardless of whether Halifax did or not communicate with HMRC, your letter asked you to contact HMRC within a time limit, and you need to take responsibility for not having done so. Even a 5 minute phone call to the number on the letter saying you had raised a formal dispute with your bank would have shut them up for enough time to resolve it.

Hopefully you can take the lesson to never again rely on a third party to deal with HMRC or any other bureaucracy on your behalf

Good luck with your claim for redress in any case.

rpc

I would contact HMRC again. Explain that you did not contact them because Halifax assured you that they would resolve the error and that you have a formal complaint open on this issue.

Halifax should fix this - they are permitted to under ISA regulations. The problem comes because HMRC have instructed them to void the subscription. They/you need to get that instruction cancelled and then they should be able to reinstate your ISA. Halifax will need to provide the evidence for HMRC to make that happen.

If Halifax will not comply, ask them for a letter detailing their error that you can then provide to HMRC. Keep up the pressure with the formal complaint (they should not have closed the first one). FOS if necessary, but that probably won't get you the outcome you want.