Tax refund

Bobedders

In June 2022 a message flashed up on my screen saying that I might have paid too much tax and inviting me to apply for a refund. Having been assured I was owed about £1,250, I filled in the necessary forms and agreed to pay a percentage fee for making the claim. I then received a letter from HMRC saying that I had indeed paid £738.28 too much and a cheque for that amount was being sent to Mortgagesmith Ltd, who presumably had made the claim on my behalf. I allowed time for Mortgagesmith to send me my money but this did not happen. I have been in touch on numerous occasions by phone and email and they have responded by admitting that I am due to receive £308.20 after they have deducted their percentage plus a handling charge and tax. But they say they are unable to receive payments or make any until HMRC have given their approval. So, nearly two years on, I am still waiting for this drastically reduced amount of what I was promised. What can I do?

 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Bobedders said:

In June 2022 a message flashed up on my screen saying that I might have paid too much tax and inviting me to apply for a refund. Having been assured I was owed about £1,250, I filled in the necessary forms and agreed to pay a percentage fee for making the claim. I then received a letter from HMRC saying that I had indeed paid £738.28 too much and a cheque for that amount was being sent to Mortgagesmith Ltd, who presumably had made the claim on my behalf. I allowed time for Mortgagesmith to send me my money but this did not happen. I have been in touch on numerous occasions by phone and email and they have responded by admitting that I am due to receive £308.20 after they have deducted their percentage plus a handling charge and tax. But they say they are unable to receive payments or make any until HMRC have given their approval. So, nearly two years on, I am still waiting for this drastically reduced amount of what I was promised. What can I do?

 

This simply doesn't make sense.

What "approval" do you think HMRC will be giving?

If HMRC have issues then refund to your authorised agent then what else is for them to do?

Why would you use a third party anyway for something you could have easily done yourself 🤔

[Deleted User]

How on earth did whoever ‘flashed up’ a message on a mobile know any refund was due? 

HMRC will have processed a claim as submitted by this ‘agent’. Let’s hope there isn’t further scrutiny down the line.

Grumpy_chap

Bobedders said:

In June 2022 a message flashed up on my screen saying that I might have paid too much tax and inviting me to apply for a refund. Having been assured I was owed about £1,250, I filled in the necessary forms and agreed to pay a percentage fee for making the claim. I then received a letter from HMRC saying that I had indeed paid £738.28 too much and a cheque for that amount was being sent to Mortgagesmith Ltd, who presumably had made the claim on my behalf. I allowed time for Mortgagesmith to send me my money but this did not happen. I have been in touch on numerous occasions by phone and email and they have responded by admitting that I am due to receive £308.20 after they have deducted their percentage plus a handling charge and tax. But they say they are unable to receive payments or make any until HMRC have given their approval. So, nearly two years on, I am still waiting for this drastically reduced amount of what I was promised. What can I do?

 

What was the information you provided on the forms that gave rise to HMRC assessing you were due £700 refund?

Notepad_Phil

Bobedders said:

... Having been assured I was owed about £1,250 ... I then received a letter from HMRC saying that I had indeed paid £738.28 too much ...

The mention of £1250 makes it sound as though this may be a claim for Marriage Tax allowance, could you let us know if that is what it was.

If it's not then it's not unheard of for a third-party claims company to supply wrong, incomplete or possibly made up information to the HMRC. This works on the basis that the HMRC will frequently pay a rebate before they actually check the claim (on the basis that people would be livid if they had to wait for the very busy HMRC to have the time to do the checks).

So the claims company get their cut, you get a small percentage, and it's not till much later that the HMRC ask for their money back as it was not a valid claim. And they'll want the full amount, not the little that you may have received by then, and they'll want it from you, not from the claims company, as they were working on your behalf.

Edited - the link in Dazed's post below does indeed make it look like it was a claim for Marriage Allowance.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

They get a mention at the bottom of this article.

Doesn't instill much confidence.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-11138353/Readers-stories-EXPOSE-tax-rebate-sharks.html

Albermarle

In June 2022 a message flashed up on my screen saying that I might have paid too much tax and inviting me to apply for a refund.

Probably best in future not to respond to messages from unknown sources that just flash up on your screen.....

Bobedders

Notepad_Phil said:

Bobedders said:

... Having been assured I was owed about £1,250 ... I then received a letter from HMRC saying that I had indeed paid £738.28 too much ...

The mention of £1250 makes it sound as though this may be a claim for Marriage Tax allowance, could you let us know if that is what it was.

If it's not then it's not unheard of for a third-party claims company to supply wrong, incomplete or possibly made up information to the HMRC. This works on the basis that the HMRC will frequently pay a rebate before they actually check the claim (on the basis that people would be livid if they had to wait for the very busy HMRC to have the time to do the checks).

So the claims company get their cut, you get a small percentage, and it's not till much later that the HMRC ask for their money back as it was not a valid claim. And they'll want the full amount, not the little that you may have received by then, and they'll want it from you, not from the claims company, as they were working on your behalf.

Edited - the link in Dazed's post below does indeed make it look like it was a claim for Marriage Allowance.

Yes, the claim was for Marriage Tax allowance