HMRC - Broken Britain

paulypost

Classic broken Britain where everything seems to be an ENDURANCE test.

I have been an investor in VCT’s since 2008 when I used them to save tax on a large redundancy payment. Each year since then I have continued to invest and in some years managed to get my tax code changed within the year of investment. Each year I complete an online self-assessment and have regularly received refunds within weeks or even days of the claim. However, tax year 2022-23 has been the exception. I failed to get my code changed during the year and was due quite a large refund when I submitted my return online on April 6th.

Six weeks later on 22nd May I rang the helpline and was told it might take a couple of weeks more.

I called again on June 8th (10 weeks by now) and after 75 mins on hold I was told there was a ‘bit of a backlog’ but that the payment had been cleared through security – note on the system indicating that I was ‘of no interest’. So maybe it wouldn’t take much longer? the adviser said.

26th June called again to hear that the ‘help’ line was closed till September 4th.
At this point I emailed my local MP. (Big mistake or mere coincidence?)

Within days I was subjected to a formal Notice of Enquiry. To their credit once I had supplied a load of evidence the refund was processed within weeks and the enquiry formally closed on 27 July. Quite a daunting process with emails back & forth as well as several phone calls (no queues thankfully when you're dealing direct).

However, during this process I realised that I had under-reported tax paid on a small AVC pension where tax is deducted at source. I have now been chasing this since 31 July 2023 - a total of almost THREE hours on hold. Any experiences shared very welcome.

eskbanker

Ironic that the inventors of the term 'Broken Britain' have ultimately been responsible for the state that HMRC has got into over the last 14 years....

Hoenir

paulypost said:

 Quite a daunting process with emails back & forth as well as several phone calls (no queues thankfully when you're dealing direct).

And people wonder why productivity levels are falling. If only people could be left to get on with their jobs more would get done every day. Resources are finite.