Writing to HMRC

Redlander

This query is about Royal Mail as much as about HMRC as about tax, but I can't find a more appropriate topic.

We wrote to HMRC at: Inheritance Tax, HM Revenue and Customs, BX9 1HT, United Kingdom.

We used the Royal Mail "Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm" service.

We posted it on Tuesday 25/07/2023 at 10:22 and when we track its progress, we see: "Your Item was received by North West Midlands MC on 26-07-2023 and is now due for delivery today.". This is what it still says now on the evening of July 28th. What is going on? 

Is it possible that the letter was in fact delivered but,  because presumably, HMRC receive mail in huge bulk quanities, it was not signed for and hence not recorded as delivered?

JGB1955

Correct!  Sending 'signed for' stuff to HMRC is a waste of money.

p00hsticks

I can't comment on HMRC, but I do know that post for DWP goes straight to an external mail handling centre, who then scan all the correspondence and return any original documents enclosed (such as bank statements, proofs of ID etc), and DWP will then deal with it electronically - they never see the paper originals. 

kuratowski

When I sent our IHT paperwork in, the tracking status initially showed as item received, but after a few days it changed to: collected from your customer service point Wolverhampton delivery office.  (I didn't ask for a signature.)

I imagine that the 'collected' status represents having been scanned in and sent to electronically HMRC, as @p00hsticks has explained.

It would have been easier (and cheaper) for me to send it electronically to HMRC in the first place ...

FluffityBunny

p00hsticks said:

I can't comment on HMRC, but I do know that post for DWP goes straight to an external mail handling centre, who then scan all the correspondence and return any original documents enclosed (such as bank statements, proofs of ID etc), and DWP will then deal with it electronically - they never see the paper originals. 

It's the same with HMRC, it's their mail sorting/scanning office.