How long does Stamp Duty Refunds take?

Jaguarxke

Things don’t seem to have got any better. I applied on the 7th March using the online form and it’s now the 11th June - slightly longer than 15 days! All I’ve had back is one letter after two weeks asking me for exactly the same information that I put in the online form, which I replied to by return. I’ve written a number of times to chase and had nothing back. When I call they say it’s with the ‘Technical Team’. When I ask to speak to the Technical Team then I am told that the Technical Team do not take calls. When I ask how long do the Technical Team  take and what SLA do they operate to then I am told that they don’t operate to timescales. When I ask to contact the Technical Team then I am told they don’t have an address or a phone number. Even the people taking the calls aren’t allowed to speak to the Technical Team. When I ask to complain then they can’t give me details and refer me to the government website where there’s is no online form to complain about SDLT. It is like some faceless Orwellian creation. I can’t believe its 2020 and we have a government body with no accountability, operating without a service level who can’t beheld to account and for whom there is no way of contacting. I had to pay a not insignificant sum out within days of completion but seemingly can be just left with no idea as to when my refund will turn up. I am seriously worried now that I will never see this money and I am at my wits end.

sheramber

  You do realise the country has been in lockdown since March and there will be limited staff available.
Normal timescales are unlikely to be met any time soon.

Jaguarxke

Absolutely and I do understand but it’s the fact that no one provides any feedback or can give any expectation of when things will be addressed. Across other businesses people’s expectations are being managed during lockdown but here there is total radio silence. As we all struggle with the financial pressures of lockdown and go out of our way to meet our financial commitments to others it’s disappointing that even the basics here can’t be looked after to allow people to manage through.

betsie

I spoke to HMRC Rd this issue on Friday.  The lady said it should be 15 working days but is currently much quicker as they are all working from home and are getting through things more quickly. I would chase again as it might have got lost in the working from office to working at home phase.

Jaguarxke

Thanks Betsie. The issue is that it has been referred to the Technical Team. Apparently the person originally processing the claim put the dates in incorrectly and as they have a strict process on a flow chart it kicked it out as an exception and was sent to the Technical Team. This team isn’t contactable directly and even the team answering the phone can’t speak with them. It’s really frustrating as I am over 3 months into this and I can’t get any understanding of when the refund will be made. I phone and write weekly but there doesn’t seem to be any progress and no one has ever replied to a letter. I know the lockdown has meant things get delayed but it’s the fact that nobody can give any indication of timescales or can be bothered to reply to letters sent months ago that’s so frustrating. 

davidmcn

Jaguarxke said:

nobody can give any indication of timescales or can be bothered to reply to letters sent months ago 

Sounds like they're back to normal HMRC standards of service!

Jaguarxke

Thanks David.
Its now101 days since I applied.  Made my weekly call yesterday. Surprise, surprise no progress and no one any idea what is happening. Like many in this situation I just assumed as it’s straightforward I’d have the refund within 15 days and budgeted when we moved on that basis. I’ve now had to take out a loan to cover the shortfall. I genuinely now don’t think I’ll ever see this money as I am just met with the same response time and time again and the weeks roll by. If this was any commercial organisation behaving in this way there would be some form of regulatory sanction but somehow HMRC can just get away with appalling service levels. What’s ironic is that every time you phone and listen to the recorded messages, as you wait  at least 20 minutes to speak to someone, you are reminded that SDLT needs to be paid within 14 days of completion. Shame they can’t apply the standards they expect of others and enforce with penalties to themselves.

Jaguarxke

108  days. Still nothing. I was promised a phone call last week. Guess what - no call.

Jaguarxke

A glimmer of hope today. After being disconnected 3 times and an hour and a half later I finally got through to someone who did their very best to help. Turns out the Technical Team is effectively a fraud investigation unit. My claim got transferred there because both addresses are on the same postcode as I bought the house next door before I sold my house. I think this leads them to suspect that is all the same address and that you are trying to claim the 3% back when you shouldn’t, as somehow there aren’t really two separate transactions despite two separate amounts of stamp duty being paid by two entirely separate parties. I am not sure how that would be even possible and can’t think of a scenario where that could happen as you would never have paid the additional 3% in the first place if it was your main residence. I also wouldn’t be living in one of them  and somebody  living in the other. Anyway  I am not sure why the position cannot just have been validated by the Technical Team  in the 5 minutes it takes to check the title deeds on the land registry website and referring to their own records which reference these and the payments made. Instead there is a wall of silence and the inference that you are somehow trying to do something dodgy.
Not unsurprisingly  there is no sign of any progress there and the advisors aren’t permitted to speak to them. What the advisor was able to do however was amend my notes to make it clear that there were two separate addresses and put it back into the workflow process. That should mean that it should pass the checks and payment will be made within 15 days. I am not holding my breath just yet but at least I now know what the issue is. My advice to anyone applying is to the lay the detail out in a clear and simple way with as much of an explanation as possible and include that with your submission to avoid it failing the process and ending up with the Technical Team. Once it ends up with the Technical Team you hit a brick wall of silence and it’s impossible to understand what is happening. I’ll let you know if the refund turns up in the next 15 days.

pjapk

I came across this topic today whilst looking into how long I should expect to wait for an SDLT refund so was expecting anything from 15 - 100 days based on what I read here but I thought I'd mention that I just got a notification from my bank that the refund was paid, so for me it actually took 18 days (12 working days) for mine to come through so hopefully anyone else stumbling upon the topic in the next month or so might get a similar turnaround - I'm assuming it's sped up due to lockdown having slowed down the property market, thus giving them some time to catch-up...