How long does an overpayment refund take?

VodkaSorbet

Hi,

I accidentally overpaid my tax for 2011/2012 due to paying the whole amount on my calculation, not realising I had already paid almost all of it via payment on account already.

I submitted the refund request on 23 January. Today was the first day I was allowed to speak to a real person at HMRC about it because you have to wait x amount of time for them to process it.

After spending ages on hold I was finally told that my refund had to go through 'additional security checks' because of the large amount, and they would contact me 'hopefully soon'. When pressed on the timescale for this, the guy said (sounding as though he was making it up) 'up to another 6 weeks'.

Is this normally how long it takes to process a refund? Should I expect to be waiting 10 weeks from submitting it?

Many thanks.

smi85

It's a lottery. Last year it took 4 months. This year I requested repayment on 1st Feb, was in my bank 14th Feb. always quicker requesting by BACS than by letter.

Greenqueen_2

5 months for me

chrismac1

It's actually a load of utter tosh. One of my clients had this for a £10k refund. I rang them and when they said "additional checks" I asked them specifically what checks as I thought I'd be able to help them with the checks.

This had the desired effect. Within 24 hours HMRC released the funds. In my view the "checks" were a pure bluff, it's a game of poker and you need to pull the trigger when the other player has cards they should have mucked.

In your case, phone again adn ask them for the specific checks they need to carry out. Your tone should be helpful, whatever checks they are doing you'd like to provide all your assistance. If they refuse to even tell you what checks, then threaten them with a formal Complaint Case, or even a Data Protection Act "producer" to force them to provide whatever information they are withholding.

If they make promises, press them to be specific. So you might be OK with "we'll complete the checks by 15 March 2013". But all too often it is the "as soon as possible" routine which is utterly meaningless

Dazed_and_confused

If you do a search I think there has been another post about money paid by mistake/in error and time taken to get it back.

This might be of interest

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/sammanual/SAM110143.htm

trailingspouse

We got our refund in a matter of days - the grand total of £3.01, which arrived by cheque. I really wish they hadn't bothered - by the time I'd paid the bank charges, the mileage to get to the bank, and parking, it cost me £4.50 to pay it in!!