Self Assessment HMRC Repayments.

trebor85

I have been waiting 17 days for a repayment from a self assessment return with HMRC for £602.47. It has changed to repayment pending now, 3 days ago. Should I contact HMRC to see how long it will be before it is issued? I am a bit worried about contacting them, as I was once told that if you contact them, this could cause them to look into your return a bit more closer, although I have nothing to hide this could cause another delay in them paying me I am guessing. Is this true? I have been told try not to contact hmrc them unless you really have to. It is best not to be noticed by them. What would you say?

chrismac1

Given that it normally takes them 4 to 5 weeks and that this is Christmas week when they mostly are all on leave, I'd wait until 7 or 8 Jan. Contacting them will not cause them to look into your return, if for no other reason than they just aren't that well organised.

trebor85

Every year I have had a repayment I have requested it via the hmrc website, request a repayment button, and I have had the repayment in my bank after 6-8 days so in my experience 17 days is a fair amount of time to wait. Not sure if it is going through security checks. I might just leave it until the new year now.
It has been 17 days since I first requested the payment online, it also said after I requested it, it will be within 10 working days, when I receive the payment.
Thanks anyway.

chrismac1

In the world of HMRC, 10 working days can mean anything up to 50 days in the rest of the known Universe. They may attend for the other 40 days, but not much real work will be done as they normally pull out all the stops to pass the buck elsewhere.

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush

I see no-one got Chris a sense of reality for Christmas.

lisa701

I'm reading this thread with interest as my hubby has just filled his first self assessment online just prior to Christmas and he too was advised he was due a tax refund. I remember when completing the forms there was a section where you entered your bank details for any refunds to be desposited which he completed.

So does he just sit back and wait and the money will be deposited into his account at some time in the future (how long does it normall take?), or does he have to do something in order for the money to be refunded?

Thanks

trebor85

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush wrote: »

I see no-one got Chris a sense of reality for Christmas.

I requested the repayment on the 10th Dec before the Holiday period. And normally it takes no more than 8 days including weekends to go in my bank. So I think I have a sense of reality. If you have nothing useful to post then post nothing at all!!

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush

trebor85 wrote: »

I requested the repayment on the 10th Dec before the Holiday period. And normally it takes no more than 8 days including weekends to go in my bank. So I think I have a sense of reality. If you have nothing useful to post then post nothing at all!!

I wasn't talking to you or about you.

chrismac1

OK, instead of a bit of festive frivolity I'll be serious. The whole issue of tax repayments is a major one between the accountancy community and HMRC. Put bluntly, the way these have been handled for the last two years or so has further undermined what little faith we had left in HMRC.

It is not uncommon to find "security checks" being applied to repayments of tax. In my opinion, 90% of the time these are just made up drivel in order to slow pay the taxpayers concerned.

My approach to these for clients is to ask the person on the phone for precise details of exactly what checks they are carrying out, in order that I can assist them to complete the checks. You know what happens 4 out of 5 times when I offer this help?

THEY RELEASE THE MONEY.

In the very next payment run.
It hits the client's account within a week.

So if your refund has not come through within 4 weeks of being requested, call up and be ready for the security checks issue. Then "ask 1,000 questions" until they either tell you what they are checking, or back down.

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush

chrismac1 wrote: »

OK, instead of a bit of festive frivolity I'll be serious. The whole issue of tax repayments is a major one between the accountancy community and HMRC. Put bluntly, the way these have been handled for the last two years or so has further undermined what little faith we had left in HMRC.

It is not uncommon to find "security checks" being applied to repayments of tax. In my opinion, 90% of the time these are just made up drivel in order to slow pay the taxpayers concerned.

My approach to these for clients is to ask the person on the phone for precise details of exactly what checks they are carrying out, in order that I can assist them to complete the checks. You know what happens 4 out of 5 times when I offer this help?

THEY RELEASE THE MONEY.

In the very next payment run.
It hits the client's account within a week.

So if your refund has not come through within 4 weeks of being requested, call up and be ready for the security checks issue. Then "ask 1,000 questions" until they either tell you what they are checking, or back down.

You know full well that the person on the phone doesn't have access to the data on the security checks so asking them all the questions is clearly just an attempt to feel smug and superior. All they will be able to do is contact the back office to feed it up the chain.

You also know how long one of these referrals takes to reach the front of the queue, so you should be quite aware that if the money is released on the next payment run then it was a coincidence and your questioning of the security checks had nothing to do with it.

You keep saying that the security checks are an attempt to slow pay - do you have any ACTUAL evidence to support this? Because continually stating it with nothing to back it up just makes you come across as a conspiracy theorist, and the majority of them are nutcases.

We both know HMRC has problems - I hear about them every day when my other half gets home from work. But you're clearly not a stupid man - when someone asks you a technical point here your answer shows that - so why do you persist in making yourself look like one with this constant 'Half of HMRC staff are untrained monkeys and the other half are sitting back having another coffee instead of actually working' drivel you post?

chrismac1

I don't know what the "process" is. I have better things to do with my time than score cheap points on the phone to the helplines. All I can tell you is that, whatever the processes are, more often than not the technique of asking for the specific checks being undertaken quite simply results in an immediate release of the funds being slow paid.

It works in VAT. It works in corporation tax. It works in self-assessment. It has even worked in CIS.

Not every time, but most of it. Even if it only worked 20% of the time I'd still do it, as when it doesn't work I write another letter to HMRC which will sit in the system for months waiting to be answered.