Tax Rebate Cheques Not Received

liserini

Resolved

System

Are you certain they haven't in fact been paid straight to your account?

Every year my wife claims back tax paid, as a non taxpayer, and fills in the bank details on the form.
HMRC reply saying they will be issuing a cheque, but they never do, they pay it into the account.

HMRC seem to use the word "cheque" just to mean a payment.

antonic

liserini wrote: »

I have been advised by Inland Revenue that 2 cheques have been issued for my tax rebate, neither of which I have received. I have now sent them a letter requesting the payment is made by BACS or PAYE by the 1st October or I will take legal action. In the meantime can someone advise where I can get legal advice?!

Two points :

1) If you have ANY HMRC debts under SA/PAYE/CIS/VAT etc, the refunds will be offset against them and a refund only made if there is still a balance due to you and
2) As Clifford_Pope states, if they have your bank details it would be made direct to there

Good luck with taking them to court !.

System

liserini wrote: »

I have been advised by Inland Revenue that 2 cheques have been issued for my tax rebate, neither of which I have received. I have now sent them a letter requesting the payment is made by BACS or PAYE by the 1st October or I will take legal action. In the meantime can someone advise where I can get legal advice?!

Legal action for what?

Did you receive the tax calculations? If so, when?

The calculations normally arrive a few days before the cheque. So if it was done recently, the cheque might still be on the way.

If the cheques were posted a while ago, have you asked HMRC to confirm they sent them to the correct address. If they did and they were sent a while ago, it sounds like the problem could be at your end.

System

If they have been issued recently they could still be on their way. If they were sent some time ago HMRC will not issue replacements until they confirm they have not already been cashed. When that is confirmed they will issue replacements to you either by post or into your account.

dori2o

liserini wrote: »

I have been advised by Inland Revenue that 2 cheques have been issued for my tax rebate, neither of which I have received. I have now sent them a letter requesting the payment is made by BACS or PAYE by the 1st October or I will take legal action. In the meantime can someone advise where I can get legal advice?!

Where has the repayment arisen from PAYE or as the result of a Self Assessment form.

If it's a PAYE repayment then they do not operate BACS repayments for this. They will refund to a bank account but they simply send the cheque directly to the bank. Also it has been reported that some banks are refusing to cash them without the recipient being the one who hands over the cheque (can't remember off hand which banks were involved).

If you have not received the cheques and they were issued more than 15 working days ago, then HMRC will arrange for the cheques to be cancelled and reissued. This process can take upto 6 weeks from the point of contact asking for the cheque to be cancelled.

I'm actually unsure what your legal action would entail.

HMRC have fulfilled their obligations at the point the cheques were issued. It is down to external parties, unrelated to HMRC, to ensure safe delivery of your repayments.