How are you supposed to communicate with the NI dept of HMRC?

Jon_01

Might be the wrong board, if so I'm sure some kind mod will move it...

My son was self employed until he left the UK for Oz last November.

Before leaving he called HMRC NI and told them (twice) that he was leaving and the date and that he would no longer be self employed and not resident in the UK.

In April this year we had a letter from NI asking for NI payments from the previous April (2011) to April 2012.
I tried to call them and they refused to talk to me (quoting DPA in away I've never come across before).
I was told to write in and the 'back office staff' would sort it out. So I did.

I have just received another NI bill from April 2010 to this Oct!
Called again, and again told to write in!
First adviser told me that if it's not paid soon the debt collector will be around! The second told me that if its not paid nothing will happen (so nicely consistent).

Can't see how to get this resolved if they refuse to talk on the phone and ignore any letters sent. First letter was sent recorded so I know they had it.
They keep saying 'get your son to call in'!! From Oz!
He's a mountain/expedition leader and is in the outback for months with groups, so calling in is a none starter, I doubt very much we'll hear from him before next year.

Anyone have any idea how to get this sorted out?

Thanks.

Savvy_Sue

Did your son leave anything like a letter of authority with you to enable you to deal with this kind of stuff?

It would have been better if he'd written to them before leaving, at least you could keep sending a copy of his letter!

agrinnall

I don't understand why you think it's your problem to resolve, presumably your son is an adult and capable of taking care of his own affairs, just write to the address on the letters and give them his address in Australia, then return anything else that they send to your address.

Jon_01

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Did your son leave anything like a letter of authority with you to enable you to deal with this kind of stuff?

It would have been better if he'd written to them before leaving, at least you could keep sending a copy of his letter!

No, no letter... Because he's thought he'd sorted it out with them. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing!

Jon_01

agrinnall wrote: »

I don't understand why you think it's your problem to resolve, presumably your son is an adult and capable of taking care of his own affairs, just write to the address on the letters and give them his address in Australia, then return anything else that they send to your address.

Because they're saying they're going to pass the debt to a collections company and I have no wish to have them knocking on my door and having to prove that all the stuff in the house belongs to my wife and I and not to him.

He doesn't have a permanent address in Australia as he's taking groups in the bush/outback for months on end. So doesn't need one, when he's back at a city he stays at a hostel for the few days he's between expeditions.

antonic

Get him to download a 64-8 from the HMRC website OR send a letter of authority authorising you to act on his behalf.

If he does the letter of authority it will need to have the following

1) His FULL name and address
2) His National Inurance Number which is in the format AA 12 34 56 B
3) His signature with his name printed and
4) Name of the person who is he authorising to act on his behalf (ie you).

The reason why they wont talk to you WITHOUT the authorisation is for data security reasons.

You could be anyone trying to access this information, how would you feel if I rang up to discuss this WITHOUT your authorisation > - not happy I would presume.

agrinnall

Jon_01 wrote: »

Because they're saying they're going to pass the debt to a collections company and I have no wish to have them knocking on my door and having to prove that all the stuff in the house belongs to my wife and I and not to him.

He doesn't have a permanent address in Australia as he's taking groups in the bush/outback for months on end. So doesn't need one, when he's back at a city he stays at a hostel for the few days he's between expeditions.

But the debt is his, not yours, so a) you should refuse to allow debt collectors access to your house, and b) you should give them nothing. HMRC may have different powers to deal with debt, but usually no debt enforcement can take place unless a court has issued a judgement, and if your son has no assets in this country then there isn't a great deal they can do until he either deals with it from Australia or returns to the UK. Of course, if he doesn't sort it out then his UK credit record will be affected, but if there's no way of getting in touch with him that may well happen anyway.

Jon_01

antonic wrote: »

The reason why they wont talk to you WITHOUT the authorisation is for data security reasons.

You could be anyone trying to access this information, how would you feel if I rang up to discuss this WITHOUT your authorisation > - not happy I would presume.

I agree to a point.
But the Information Commissioners office issues guidelines on how to deal with third parties, HMRC don't want to know.
I'm trying to help them, I'm not asking for personal information (which would be covered under DPA and I wouldn't expect them to give me).

They just want to use the DPA as an excuses not to deal with anyone else.
And, they have all ready been given all this information by my son before he left the UK. Its their incompetence that created this situation and now we have to dash around sorting it out.

But I guess that's par for the course for most government dept's and HMRC in particular.


Thanks you for the other info, I'll mail it all to him, but as said before, we don't expect him to be able to pick it up until well into the new year...