Inland revenue

1159skunk

Wasn't sure where to post this so posted it here.

It appears that there are big problems at the tax office, and according to the job centre it is very wide spread with 100's of people contacting Wrexham Jobcentre alone.

Basically my partner received her tax refund, was expecting 380, however only got 68.00, this was due to according to the tax office the job centre emailing them specifically to say that she also earned £1600 in job seekers allowance. My partner has never signed on or received benefits from job centre, JOB centre sent her a letter to give to tax office to confirm this, and also stated about receiving 100's of calls saying the same sort of thing. The job centre denies telling the tax office any such thing as their records show she did not claim jsa.

This has given her a tax code of BR for next year for her one and only job, meaning she would have been taxed 20% on every penny she earned.

The same thing has also happened to me, a wrong tax code stating I have underpaid tax 2011/12 again because of information apparently sent from the job centre. And I will now be 744 instead of 944 next year. It has also happened to 3 of my friends.

This seems to be widespread from what the job centre said, and they have no idea how this has happened, both job centre and tax office blaming each other.

I just think people should be aware and check all information received from the tax office and don't just put the letters in the draw etc, as tax office will not sort this for you, you have to contact job centre to send you a letter to prove you didn't get jsa or the amount stated, then forward it to the tax office all at your own expense. Although the tax office have told me when I send the proof make it clear I want my postage back. Personally I am going to tell them I want my admin fees for my time etc as well.

Hopefully this post will help some people who the tax office are trying to rip off. I know we're in a big cut back program of austerity etc but the government trying to get away with this is shocking!

Slinky

The ways the tax offce can screw up are many and various. Last year I had 5 separate notifications of a change of my code, including one attempt to adjust for gross interest which was the exact same amount as was being correctly recovered from my brother! Brother doesn't even live at the same address or have the same surname, although he does work for my business. Goodness knows how they managed that one. The final change at the end of the year was to change it back to the same code as we started out at the start of the year.

dori2o

There is no problem with the tax office, nobody has screwed up.

If HMRC hold information that you have made a JSA claim but do not have the details of how much you received (i.e. a P45) then they have the ability to estimate how much they think you received. This will be based on the date the claim for JSA was made, and the next date that you started work/or the end of the tax year, whichever is soonest.

It seems therefore that HMRC have details that at some point in the year in question, you made a claim for JSA, but they have no P45 information to say when that claim ceased or how much was paid.

Therefore they have estimated the amount.

If the amount is wrong then it is the taxpayers responsibility to get the correct information and forward it to HMRC who will then amend the calculation and issue any refund due.

It is likely that you have already been contacted by HMRC asking you to provide further information in order to close the previous tax years, it seems you have not responded to any such request.

It is the taxpayers own responsibility to ensure the information held on HMRC systems is correct.

Pennywise

dori2o wrote: »

There is no problem with the tax office

What a wonderful statement to make - just unfortunate that it's complete rubbish.

There is a hell of a lot wrong with the tax office, as evidenced by countless comments made in House of Commons Select Committees, quotes made by senior HMRC officials and the HMRC adjudicator.

Re the point raised by the OP, yes, HMRC are making loads of foul ups at the moment, and as usual, they are in denial about it. The JSA problem (which this seems to be) is common and knowledge of it is starting to spread (although not to lower HMRC ranks it seems). I've had 3 clients with unexplained JSA deductions in their recently issued PAYE coding notices and none of the 3 have signed on recently - in fact 2 have been fully employed without a break, with the same employer for at least 5 years and the other has been self employed for 2 years - all three submit SA returns each year and are up to date. There's absolutely ZERO reason why JSA deductions are on the PAYE codes, yet HMRC in all three cases are insisting on letters from the JSA people to confirm that they've had no JSA - completely ridiculous as the JSA people won't do this as they've no records of these people. Needless to say, formal complaints made in all three cases!

I suspect that it will end up another foul-up where either the JSA people or HMRC have mixed up peoples' NIC numbers. There was a classic similar case a while ago where clearly some numpty had messed up a spreadsheet or wrongly programmed a database - regarding benefits in kind, which meant loads of people suddenly found themselves being taxed on benefits in kind they never had! Just the same - complete denial from HMRC numpties and trying to blame the taxpayer, or the employer, or basically anyone but themselves! As usual.

To the OP, sadly you will have to jump through hoops, but make sure you claim your costs and compensation for time wasted and feel free to make a formal complaint, copied to your MP etc. HMRC need to get a grip and people need to complain for it to be made to happen.

1159skunk

Yes that is the case penny, haven't signed on for a number of years, so unlike what dori2o said it has nothing to do with p45s and the tax office Guessing how much I claimed. Wrexham are issuing letters to confirm that 0.00 was received, however they have a record of me from 3 or 4 years ago so I am on there system. For the people that aren't on their system due to being fortunate enough never having to sign on must have a lot more difficulty getting the matters resolved if the job centre can't give them anything to confirm they didn't receive the Jsa to begin with.