Tax rebate

Catherine62

Apologies if this is not in the correct arena but I am really struggling to know where to turn, if anywhere. My daughter is 18,looking for work but currently on universal credit, consequently only on basic money. In the last financial year she had some temporary work, amounting to earnings of less than £1000 but had paid tax on it. I knew she could apply for a tax rebate so she went online and applied under 'tax rebate'. I thought I had said to only look at gov.uk sites and thought I'd looked with her but it turns out it was a company she applied under, the 'tax rebate agency'. I thought that was legitimate and though she signed to apply for the rebate, what we didn't realise was that it was a private agency who have charged her 40% + vat. Now out of the £167 she was due they have taken £80. I am so annoyed as this is money she is due to and she didn't need a third party company. All efforts to contact them and the tax office have come to nothing. I doubt there is anything we can do but it is so wrong that these companies are out there who can operate like this, not being clear and keeping the fact that they charge in very small print. Can anyone offer any advise? Many thanks.

marliepanda

1. Despite you telling her to only look at .gov.uk sites, she didn't, she went on https://www.taxrebate.co.uk

2. On the form she filled in applying for her refund, on the first page in the 'what happens next section' (not in tiny writing, the writing is exactly the same size as the instructions for where to post it etc) it says

Once confirmed your rebate will be sent to you via cheque. This process will then be repeated after 5th April for each year. The Tax Repayment Agency will retain 40% excluding VAT for processing and administration.

They performed a service, and they took the fee they told you they would take.

End of.

p00hsticks

Catherine62 wrote: »

Can anyone offer any advise?

Make 100% sure that she terminates her agreement with them, as unless she does so they will continue to apply for rebates on her behalf each year.

cutestkids

The company is doing nothing wrong. They are offering a service, the charges are very clear. You really can't blame anyone else for this.

Pennywise

She needs to contact HMRC directly herself to get the instruction cancelled otherwise any future repayments due will go to this company first and they'll deduct their fees even if they've done nothing for them.

Skint_yet_Again

If the repayment form states the repayment has been assigned to this company she cannot just phone HMRC and cancel it as both parties have to agree. However according to the link below years cannot include future tax years apart from current in-year claims


https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/paye-manual/paye91040


If she didn't keep a copy of the form she can get a copy from HMRC to check what years she has signed up to