HMRC Time of Response to letters

Possetjohn

Hi all,

First sorry if this is not in the right place as I am new to this!

Any of you knowledgable people know if HRMC has any target or obligation of time to respond to a letter. Seem to remember in the good old days of the Inland Revenue (did I say that?) it was 15 working days?

I had an adjustment to my 2005-6 SA calculation mainly due to incorrect information given over the phone from HRMC (Yes I know I should have checked more thoroughly but I was in a rush before the end of the tax year!)

I wrote a letter to the Bristol Tax Office on 30/8/07, but still no reply. I phoned the guy who made the adjustment (had his direct phone number!) about 5 weeks ago and he said they were dealing with mail from mid-July. Chased again through the normal Bristol contact number a week ago but still nothing.

Just think that more than three months to answer a letter is rather poor. I don't suppose they would be that forgiving if it was me not answering them for three months.....

System

The target used to be 15 working days but because of the vast changes in working procedures and movement of staff this has disintegrated drastically. Staff in many offices no longer do whole case work.

To be honest though waiting 4 months is out of the ordinary. We generally advise customers that the norm is about 6 weeks. I guess we are going to have to revise that.

I hope you get everything sorted soon. Merry Christmas :beer:

Bean_Counter

I have just had my lastest tax repayment through within seven weeks of applying, which based on my experience is the norm for up here at least.

Pennywise

Depends on the tax office. Our local tax office typically replies within a week or two, but other tax offices can take several months depending on how well/badly organised they are.

Possetjohn

Hi
Thanks to all of you for replying. It is interesting that there is such a difference between different tax offices.

Guess I will just have to chase it up again in the New Year.

Merry Christmas to you all

talkinpeace

My local office is Southampton. They seem to run at around 30 days tops.
Bristol are a PITA.
I had a conversation with an inspector there who was complaining about how many CIS36 returns they were having in.
To which my reply was "well you sent them all out"
They have been known to take 4 months to process a P35 so don't hold your breath about lowly SA.
Sending correspondence to another office for Bristol's attention can be quite effective though !!

fengirl_2

It was 7 days max when Fengirl was a baby tax inspector and you had to explain why if you had over 14. Now, I hear of sacks of post lying unopened for weeks.
But, hush, don't complain too loudly as there is always the option of sending SA's to India to be processed.

Possetjohn

Hi,

Thanks for the answers

talkinpeace wrote: »

Bristol are a PITA.


Sending correspondence to another office for Bristol's attention can be quite effective though !!

'scuse my ignorance but what is a PITA?
Might try the other office tip if the next phone call does not bring any joy!

fengirl wrote: »

But, hush, don't complain too loudly as there is always the option of sending SA's to India to be processed.

Thanks Fengirl, that thought actually sends a shiver down my spine!

Actually when I submitted the return online it calculated it the way I expected (from the advice received in the phone call), but about 5 weeks later they made a correction, negating the first advice and that is the subject of letter lying lost somewhere in the Bristol Office.

Regards
John

KeithP

Possetjohn wrote: »

'scuse my ignorance but what is a PITA?

PITA = Pain In The A...

but I cant remember what the A stood for.

talkinpeace

Possetjohn
If Bristol are the office (049 on the start of the PAYE code) then it's Bristol you have to talk to.
I've had most stuff transferred away from them. But it takes a while.

System

talkinpeace wrote: »

Sending correspondence to another office for Bristol's attention can be quite effective though !!

I'm not sure that will work. Usually if correspondence arrives in one office which is for another it just gets put back in the internal mail with any other post. It wouldn't get any special treatment.