Inland Revenue Mistake

taurusgb

Hope this is the correct forum - if not please feel free to move.

Both of my children have a small investment with the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society, I am the nominated person to run the investment for each child. Earlier this year (about May) I received letters for both of them along with a cheque each because the Foresters had reorganised and found to have a surpluss of funds which was redristributed amongst qualifying members. In both cases £45 was deducted in income tax.

As neither of my children are tax payers, I rang my local tax office to enquire about a refund. I was told to write to them (Coventry) and include a copy of the statements received with the cheques and they would refund - would take approx 4 weeks.

In August, having heard nothing, I called them back. I was told that the Leicester office handles refunds of this type and that the letter would have been forwarded to them. I rang Leicester.

After a LONG conversation where I tried to get the [strike]idiot[/strike] person who answered to understand that no, the children didn't have a tax reference or a national insurance number or any tax records to trace, I was told I shouldn't have written to Coventry by letter at all, I should have filled in a form, and that the refund would not be contenanced without said form, which I could download from the internet, fill in and send directly to Leicester.

Soooo - downloaded and completed one form per child, and sent with photocopy of statement from Foresters Society directly to Leicester as bid.

At begining of October I received a two cheques made payable to me for the benefit of each child. Cheques were banked straight away and monies transfered from my account to the children's savings accounts. End of story - I thought.

Today I received another two cheques from HMRC both cheques again for £45. When I dug out the earlier information I noticied that the calculation letter was for tax year 2007/08, and these new ones are for tax year 2006/07.

Before I ring Leicester could someone tell me please how best to handle this? If I just return the new cheques, how can I prove I haven't been paid twice at a later date? My children are not entitled to the 2nd payment, so it needs to be sorted out and I want all likelihoods covered and explored IYSWIM before I ring the oh so efficient bodies at Leicester.

Any help gratefully received.

Hoddie_2

I ring the oh so efficient bodies at Leicester.

I think people who use this board need to realise that HMRC employees are not there enemy. Yes, some are real pains in the !!!! and very unhelpful to boot, but I find most are genuinely pleasant and want to help you as much as possible. It is the government who devises policy and dictates to a large extend what HMRC resources are used where. If this means it takes ages for your repayment, and/or something is done in error, take this up with the government.

As for your particular case, send the cheques back with a covering letter. Simple. And you wouldn't have to slag anyone off or moan at anyone on the telephone who is answering the phone to earn a living.

Mikeyorks

Agree with the above. But write 'Cancelled' right across the cheques before you send them back.

They're 'negotiable' if left open .... but primarily .... it;s not the first time the local offices have screwed up with returned cheques (sorry Hoddie .... you're a mite sensitive today;) ). And sent them on to the office at Shipley for processing. So - a big 'cancelled' - might just stop someone in their tracks long enough to think - and do the cancellation online to the Worthing office

taurusgb

Hoddie wrote: »

I think people who use this board need to realise that HMRC employees are not there enemy. Yes, some are real pains in the !!!! and very unhelpful to boot, but I find most are genuinely pleasant and want to help you as much as possible.
As for your particular case, send the cheques back with a covering letter. Simple. And you wouldn't have to slag anyone off or moan at anyone on the telephone who is answering the phone to earn a living.

Thanks for your reply - however the person I spoke to at Leicester was not only unhelpful but VERY unpleasant, overbearing and sounded as though she was reading inflexibly from a script. You are right we should not treat ALL HMRC staff as though they are our enemy - but then again is it reasonable to expect me to take that stance when spoken to as though I am an idiot 5 year old who should have known better than to expect a reasonable reply to a reasonable question?

As for returning the cheques with a covering letter - I know of at least two other people who have had similar things happen to them and have been chased for months by what was then the Inland Revenue, who could only see that they had issued 2 refunds and not that only 1 had been cashed......I am anxious to avoid a replay of this scenario in my own case.

Callisto

The Inland Revenue have tax enquiry centres in most large towns and cities. You could try taking the cheques into your local centre and asking for a receipt.

taurusgb

jimmo wrote: »

This is called an “Over-repayment”. I would bank the cheques, remembering that you could be asked to repay the money to HMRC.
Once the cheques have cleared I would then write to HMRC to say that you have realised that the 2nd repayments may not be correct. Invite them to review their records. DO not offer to repay the money.
That way, I think your conscience is clear. You have pointed out their error and left the ball in their court.
Then, if you get a demand you can pay it.
If you play your cards right there’s a very good chance you’ll get to keep the money anyway. Take a look at the flowchart which is a link on this link. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/rmmanual/RM5148.htm

Thank you so much for your help.....that was very informative and extremely helpful :beer:

Cook_County

taurusgb wrote: »

Thank you so much for your help.....that was very informative and extremely helpful :beer:

If the money invested with the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society came from the parents then the income may be taxable on the parents (not the minor children) and so any repayment at all may be incorrect.

To be certain on this point one would need to know where the childrens' investments came from (parents, grandparents etc) and if the children had or will have any other income this tax year.

taurusgb

Cook_County wrote: »

If the money invested with the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society came from the parents then the income may be taxable on the parents (not the minor children) and so any repayment at all may be incorrect.

To be certain on this point one would need to know where the childrens' investments came from (parents, grandparents etc) and if the children had or will have any other income this tax year.

The money was from Birthday and Christmas gifts from paternal grandparents and the children have no other income at all other than about £10 (ish) per year interest on their building society savings (again from Christmas and Birthday gifts)