HMRC cheque "stolen" by whom?

jem16

jennifernil wrote: »

I seems there are some types of refunds that they just will not credit direct to your bank account.

I reclaim a little tax each year using the form R40. They ask for your bank details if you want it sent direct to your bank, but do actually post a cheque to my bank which is then paid into my account. (or is it a payable order? I have never actually seen it but the bank calls it a cheque on my statement.)

HMRC have called it a cheque and provided a cheque number.

Their own website states that you can have a bank transfer to refund overpaid tax. To me that means electronic transfer but who knows??

An Income Tax repayment is a refund of tax that you've overpaid. So, if you've paid too much tax for example through your job or pension this year or in previous years HMRC will send you a repayment. You'll get the repayment either by cheque in the post, by bank transfer or through your wages.

System

jem16 wrote: »

Can't do that she is told as PAYE refunds cannot be paid directly into the bank.

.

That's not true. My wife as a non-taxpayer regularly claims refund of tax deducted, and it is always credited directly to our joint account.

They do however use the curious expression "send a cheque to your bank", which in HMRC-speak apparently means they credit it directly by BACS.

System

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

That's not true. My wife as a non-taxpayer regularly claims refund of tax deducted, and it is always credited directly to our joint account.

They do however use the curious expression "send a cheque to your bank", which in HMRC-speak apparently means they credit it directly by BACS.

Hi,

PAYE refunds are not issued by BACS. The curious expression used should be taken at face value in this case. Cheque (payable order) are posted to the bank/building society if requested.

jem16

ceiberman wrote: »

Hi,

PAYE refunds are not issued by BACS. The curious expression used should be taken at face value in this case. Cheque (payable order) are posted to the bank/building society if requested.

So are you saying my daughter-in-law cannot specifically request an electronic transfer despite HMRC website saying:

An Income Tax repayment is a refund of tax that you've overpaid. So, if you've paid too much tax for example through your job or pension this year or in previous years HMRC will send you a repayment. You'll get the repayment either by cheque in the post, by bank transfer or through your wages.

jonesMUFCforever

Lots of replies since mine last night - all I have to add is this - if any bank has made a mistake and cheque ''conversion'' has taken place the bank WILL put it right.
To enforce your point you need a copy of the cheque to take to the bank.

jem16

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Lots of replies since mine last night - all I have to add is this - if any bank has made a mistake and cheque ''conversion'' has taken place the bank WILL put it right.

To enforce your point you need a copy of the cheque to take to the bank.

What if the cheque never reached the bank as has been suggested?

The main point is that a direct transfer was requested both verbally and written and at no point was my daughter-in-law told that HMRC think that a direct transfer is a cheque sent to the bank. If she had been told that, she would have acted differently. To her mind, and that of my son and myself, HMRC have not carried out her instructions so we don't see how they can wash their hands of this.

The only thing we have to go on, is that the letter from HMRC asked my daughter-in-law to let them know if the payment had not been made into her bank account and they would then investigate further. They also said that another cheque would be issue if appropriate.

jonesMUFCforever

They do not have to send any refund by electronic method. For all we know the cheque might have been paid into an account she forgot about.

PLEASE GET A COPY AS I HAVE SUGGESTED THIS WILL THEN SOLVE EVERYTHING - GOING ON AND ON AND ON ABOUT THE METHOD OF SENDING THE REFUND IS GOING NOWHERE!!!

Mikeyorks

Hi Jem,

HMRC systems are as joined up as a jigsaw ....... that's still in its box.

So the fact that SA has been issuing BACS (Direct Credit) repayments since shortly after 2000 cannot, unfortunately, read through to the fact that PAYE also has that interface. It doesn't ...... and can only repay via cheque.

This made all the more mysterious by the fact PAYE was completely re-worked in July 2009 - yet still does not attach to BACS. Despite that - for 3 years now - PAYE has been making annual and automatic repayments and therefore the number of repayments has escalated sharply.

All of which is totally at odds with HMRC guidance on paying them - where they are at pains to point out that cheque payments are 'insecure' :

If you use the right reference number electronic payments are more efficient and secure than sending cheques by post.

And these are 'cheques' they send. They are not 'payable orders' which is old speak that still litters the HMRC manuals. They're printed on Xerox cheque printers and - importantly - HMRC do the whole operation from cradle to grave.

They manufacture the base stationery / format and issue the cheques / and then recover / check / account for them all once they've been via Clearing. This latter aspect used to be done - probably still is - at HMRC Finance (Worthing).

In my experience - if you say the cleared cheque has not credited the correct account then they will pursue that. They will not 'wash their hands' just because they believed they had issued it to the correct address.

So you merely need to write to them to that effect. Unfortunately my 'experience' is before HMRC added fairly thick veneers of inexperience around the customer interface. I'm sure they still have experts in corners somewhere - it's just getting things through to them when the issue is abnormal.

I get an annual PAYE refund (CITR account) - by cheque. It survives the journey through the mail stream (very low interception rates there now compared to the early '90's) - but I would hate it to be sent direct to my Bank! I'd view the likelihood of it crediting my account as a bit on the low side.

Trust you sort it.

jem16

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

They do not have to send any refund by electronic method. For all we know the cheque might have been paid into an account she forgot about.

It hasn't - all accounts have been checked.

PLEASE GET A COPY AS I HAVE SUGGESTED THIS WILL THEN SOLVE EVERYTHING

There's no need to shout by the way.

We intend to. However if it's been cashed somewhere other than the bank it will not solve everything.

GOING ON AND ON AND ON ABOUT THE METHOD OF SENDING THE REFUND IS GOING NOWHERE!!!

The point is not about the method of refunding. The point is about HMRC not following instructions and not informing my daughter-in-law that what she requested wasn't able to be done. If they had informed her correctly, she would have requested the refund cheque to be sent to me and I would have paid it into her bank account.

jem16

Mikeyorks wrote: »

In my experience - if you say the cleared cheque has not credited the correct account then they will pursue that. They will not 'wash their hands' just because they believed they had issued it to the correct address.

Hi Mikeyorks - good to hear from you again.

We are hoping that you are correct and that by writing to the person who has asked her to get in contact, we might just get somewhere and quickly.

but I would hate it to be sent direct to my Bank! I'd view the likelihood of it crediting my account as a bit on the low side.

You're correct - as a manual cheque I wouldn't trust that method either. If she had been given accurate information, that wouldn't have been her choice.

Trust you sort it.

Thank you.