What improvements would you like to see from HMRC

Anatidaephobia

dori2o wrote: »

I'll take it forward but my only concern is that the GG system won't last forever once the new My Tax Account service is up and running, and as I explained the issue of emails, contact between hmrc and the customer (both ways) will be done via the new system. It's similar to the service which is already available which allows you to amend your company car details online, you have to use the new Gov.verify service to verify your identity and then register your tax account. This is from where all online contact will be done in future, including submitting tax returns if needed and for those who are taken out of SA (as per the March 15 pre budget) who have very simple accounts, this is where they will decalre their income/expenses/profits etc and then pay the tax which is due at the point that their submission is made.

With this in mind I don't know how much they will invest into updating the GG when it's coming to the end of its shelf life, but I will take your concerns forward.

The idea Pennywise had of structured messages sent to and from an "inbox" in an account you have to log into could be applied to the Personal Tax Account rather than the Government Gateway account.

dori2o

I can put it forward as an idea.

My only worry is that this change isn't a simple process change, it would requre legislation change.

From April 2015 the 50% overriding regulatory limit applies to all tax codes not just K codes. It is set by 'The Income Tax (Pay as you Earn) Regulations 2014'

chrismac1

Dori2o

I realise this is falling on deaf HMRC ears nationally, but the SA changes are fatally flawed in their concept. HMRC has been told this by all the major accounting bodies but as usual it is "Full steam ahead please Mr. Smith that iceberg warning is just made up stuff."

I manage my SA clients much more proactively than most accountants, who have dreadful Januarys every year. Even so I have 47 SA returns still to go out of around 200, and if I don't get the source information for 30 of them they'll get a price increase of £100 minimum on 1 December. If it still does not come in by 25 December it is £200 minimum.

Even with this, there will be clients filing in January. So what am I to do when the new system comes in? Take the hit on fines? NO WAY.

I will just file any old drivel each month until the real numbers come in, then adjust. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, boxes ticked.

patanne

Definitely not having a go at Chrismac here after all he is running a business, but how much more expensive is it going to be for his clients who now file once a year but will then have to start filing every month. 11 extra actions even if not taking QUITE as long is going to cost.

ETA This will of course reduce the tax payable so would actually be counterproductive as I assume the idea is to get the tax in earlier. Which will presumably need to be in the tax year 19-20 in time for the next election and is a one off only!

Savvy_Sue

dori2o wrote: »

For cases like yours I think you will be removed from SA anyway and simply left within PAYE where an assessment will automatically be issued every year and you'll have to make a lump sum voluntary payment.

Voluntary payments? :rotfl:

Spidernick

I agree with all those who are arguing for more e-mail correspondence. Related to this is the propensity for HMRC to lose things sent to them in the postnd request them again. This just wastes the client's and the agents' time and is non-billable work for us, so needs to be improved.

One of my biggest bugbears is the fact that SA and PAYE are two distinct departments and never seem to know what the other is doing. I've had quite a few cases where a PAYE year-end calculation is prepared for an individual who is registered for SA and who will be filing a tax return. Surely this should not be possible. Also, given the fact that this is generally for tax equalised assignees (I work in expatriate tax) quite often the P60 isn't the final figure, but the client will then question why our calculations don't agree with HMRC's, which again wastes our time. In a period when there is a downward pressure on our fees this does not endear us to HMRC!

On the plus side, payrolls being able to tax non-cash benefits directly via the payroll from next April is a positive step.

dori2o

Spidernick wrote: »

I agree with all those who are arguing for more e-mail correspondence. Related to this is the propensity for HMRC to lose things sent to them in the postnd request them again. This just wastes the client's and the agents' time and is non-billable work for us, so needs to be improved.
This should naturally ease as now all post is scanned upon receipt even before it is passed to the department which will deal with it. This means there will always be an electronic record of the post no matter where, or by whom, it is dealt with.

Currently the delay in scanning post is between 3 and 4 days from receipt, meaning that all post is available to view within a few days of posting. Something that some agents have already picked up on.

The only thing currently not scanned on receipt is the Short Tax Return, reason for this is that the form is scanned anyway and as far as that is concerned it is BAU.
One of my biggest bugbears is the fact that SA and PAYE are two distinct departments and never seem to know what the other is doing. I've had quite a few cases where a PAYE year-end calculation is prepared for an individual who is registered for SA and who will be filing a tax return. Surely this should not be possible. Also, given the fact that this is generally for tax equalised assignees (I work in expatriate tax) quite often the P60 isn't the final figure, but the client will then question why our calculations don't agree with HMRC's, which again wastes our time. In a period when there is a downward pressure on our fees this does not endear us to HMRC!

On the plus side, payrolls being able to tax non-cash benefits directly via the payroll from next April is a positive step.

SA and PAYE will no longer be 2 seperate departments under the Customer Service Centre process. The aim of the trial is to bring customer facing/contact and processing together under one banner with officers working both sides as an amalgamated service.

Contact Centre staff have always been trained in both SA and PAYE but processing staff have not. In the majority of cases processing staff have only been trained in SA if they directly deal with SA processing work. Under the CSC system of working everyone will be trained on both systems.

That will allow everyone to work all types of incoming work, be it on the phone or working incoming post which will be done via the digital scan and no longer by the physical form/letter. It will allow the business to direct staff to whichever part of the business needs them most within minutes. So for example if call volumes spike they can add more officers to the pool of available telephone advisers, if post is backing up but call volumes are low they can put more people onto working post.

It will also see a return in the majority of cases to whole case working, even for those on the phone. The officer will in the majority of cases be able to work the whole of a case rather than under the current system where contact ccentre staff are restricted to doing tasks which are quick and which don't have a dramatic effect on the average call handlinbg time. Therefore more in depth work is currently referred to the back office/processing to be completed once the CC adviser had retrieved all the information necessary from the customer.

This will change under the csc system and the person on the phone will simply work the whole of the case and not refer it on.

The only time this will change is if the case is of a specifically technical nature that it needs specialist help/or authority from a higher grade to finalise. We expect these cases to be few and far between and in the majority of cases they are submitted by letter anyway.

Regarding the cases of SA and PAYE calcs, it shouldn't happen if the correct signals are set on both records (under CSC there is greater ability to ensure records are updated properly). IME the majority of times this happens is when an unsolicited tax return is received but a PAYE assessment has already been issued or is issued during the interim period between receiving the form and the form being captured. This generally happens when the customer has had a change of circumstance but neither they nor their agent has not seen fit to inform HMRC, allowing them to issue a tax return via the proper process and so ensuring that the records are correctly updated.

There are obviously other cases where the record has not been updated correctly and so this happens but these cases are not the norm based on the ones I deal with.

patanne

Is the new system going to be able to tie up tax due on state pension with tax paid on interest on savings (some of which will be refundable I believe) ? If not I am going to have to write a letter every year which is much more likely to go wrong than filing a self assessment. I know I am nitpicking a little here, but I can't be the only one this is going to bother. I am just worried that it is going to be a way of getting penalties (ie additional income) against someone who would never ever be in that position under the current system.

dori2o

patanne wrote: »

Is the new system going to be able to tie up tax due on state pension with tax paid on interest on savings (some of which will be refundable I believe) ? If not I am going to have to write a letter every year which is much more likely to go wrong than filing a self assessment. I know I am nitpicking a little here, but I can't be the only one this is going to bother. I am just worried that it is going to be a way of getting penalties (ie additional income) against someone who would never ever be in that position under the current system.

Not as far as I am aware, but we'll have to wait and see closer to the time.

Here's some further information on the personal tax accounts

Lets not confuse this with a new system that will hold your tax records, it's not. The Personal tax account is personal to you and is not accessed by HMRC staff. It's similar to the current Self Assessment online account in that you will be able to submit information/forms to it, make your own amendments to tax codes (within certain parameters), update employment information, check balances, check payments, request refunds and make payments.

Whilst it is a new system and likely to replace the existing online customer accounts, it won't change the systems that HMRC staff use to maintain your tax records. They will still have Self Assessment and NPS (the PAYE system) to work from even if SA resembles nothing like the existing system. The Personal Tax Account is merely the customers gateway to their tax affairs online.

Unlike with Self Assessment Online which you can only register for if you have a Self Assessment record, this new Personal Tax Account will, once up and running, be open to everyone who has a live National Insurance Number to set up an account and in time it is likely to be the only way (with very few exceptions) you will be able to submit Self Assessment forms, submit income/expenditure/profit details, Tax Credits claims/Renewals, and submit other types of information.

As I said this whole concept is following on from the announcement the chancellor made in Dec 2014 and March 2015 when he announced he was going to abolish the tax return in the majority of cases and bring about these online tax accounts where people woud instead submit their information there.

This isn't an HMRC enforced change, this has come from the chancellor. HMRC merely act upon his instruction.

This is the statement from a Treasury source

“This will make life much easier."It will cut down the time people have to spend filling in their tax returns, allow them to make payments when they want and calculate the amount they owe much more accurately.”
Under the new system, due to start next year and be in full operation by 2020, all a taxpayer’s details will be in one place.
They can log in at any time, much like managing an online bank account.
Tax liabilities will be calculated for them and they can arrange to make payments at any time during a tax year.
It will be possible to pay in instalments by direct debit.
Treasury officials say the new system should mean far less tax being overpaid.
People who prefer the existing system will not be forced to switch.
Other measures already announced to make the tax system more user friendly have included investing £200 million in Revenue and Customs digital services.

The only thing to question is the bit in bold. They will not run a dual system forever and so there will come a point after which the current system will end.

In regards to the issue of banks, interest and tax, I don't know who you bank with but just looking through the onlive notifications I get (letters which are accessible online) through my bank they do send me a letter each year which identifies how much interest I have received and how much tax I have paid on that interest.

My wife gets the same and she banks with a different bank.

I assume then that not all banks do this?

patanne

Sorry I must have worded it incorrectly and certainly do not hold HMRC responsible for the shambles the government causes by not thinking things through. Yes I do get a tax statement through. I think I must have misunderstood something you wrote about in year SA tax collection.