HMRC delay/error in processing tax refund

MetaPhysical

artyboy said:

I completed my 23/24 SA online on 6th April, as I knew I was due a big refund. As part of that, I provided my bank details (as usual...) for the refund to be made. I got the calculation that I had overpaid, and so I sat back and waited for a refund to get to my bank, as it had in prior years.

4 weeks later - nothing. I go into my tax account and see that the overpayment is still sitting as a credit on my account. Annoyed... but I see there's an option to request a repayment, so I do that just to make sure. I take a screen print of their confirmation of the request, along with a transaction reference.

4 weeks later, still nothing. Now VERY annoyed. I call and wait the customary hour for an agent, who tells me there is no record of any request for a payment, and he would process it now.

So my question - despite my SA requesting a refund, and another seperate request a month later, HMRC have failed to act. It's a big repayment, and 2 months lost interest on that isn't exactly peanuts. So can I complain and demand they compensate me for the period between putting in my SA and the call where they have actually put the repayment request in? And if so, would the usual statutory 8% be appropriate for a calculation?

Or do I just have to suck it up because penalties only apply in one direction with HMRC?

I have exactly the same problem.  Sharon's "solution" sounds like BS to me to kick the can down the road again because I had this problem last year as well and still haven't got the money back (£560) after filling out the refund form FOUR times I even got a confirmation code acknowledging the request each time.  No reason is given why; the transfer just doesn't happen and the money just sits there in my tax account as a credit/balance.  After this tax year's SA I am owed a further £2400.  I simply cannot afford HMRC to be sitting on my money like this.

horsewithnoname

This is what happens when public services are under resourced. There are too few people dealing with an increasing population using ancient systems. Something has to give. 

MetaPhysical

Slinky said:

Last year my OH requested his refund twice on his computer, nothing turned up, it was only when he requested via the app on his mobile that he finally got repaid. Think this may have also happened in a previous year.

When you try to do this do this via the HMRC app it just opens a web browser; you cannot claim refunds natively from within the app.  Indeed, other than viewing a few things the HMRC app is pretty much useless for actually "doing" anything.

artyboy

horsewithnoname said:

This is what happens when public services are under resourced. There are too few people dealing with an increasing population using ancient systems. Something has to give. 

We can all bemoan the parlous state of public services (and I do, frequently). But the fact remains that if this was a bank that had failed - for 2 months - to act on multiple specific instructions to make a payment of my money, they would be on the hook for compensation. Why is it acceptable for HMRC to be able to avoid this...?

sheramber

You can make an official complaint about the delay.

Hoenir

sheramber said:

You can make an official complaint about the delay.

And waste yet more valuable time. Hardly surprising that productivity levels are falling in the UK. When everybody thinks that they should be served first.  

artyboy

Hoenir said:

sheramber said:

You can make an official complaint about the delay.

And waste yet more valuable time. Hardly surprising that productivity levels are falling in the UK. When everybody thinks that they should be served first.  

Yep... this attitude is exactly the point that I'm making. It's a public service so it gets a pass for being incompetent. Amazing they ever got that Post Office enquiry off the ground really...

horsewithnoname

artyboy said:

horsewithnoname said:

This is what happens when public services are under resourced. There are too few people dealing with an increasing population using ancient systems. Something has to give. 

We can all bemoan the parlous state of public services (and I do, frequently). But the fact remains that if this was a bank that had failed - for 2 months - to act on multiple specific instructions to make a payment of my money, they would be on the hook for compensation. Why is it acceptable for HMRC to be able to avoid this...?

HMRC pay compensation on occasion if you put in a claim. Why do you think they avoid it?
Take it up with you MP, the govt are ultimately responsible, and your MP is your govt contact. 

gt94sss2

artyboy said:

horsewithnoname said:

This is what happens when public services are under resourced. There are too few people dealing with an increasing population using ancient systems. Something has to give. 

We can all bemoan the parlous state of public services (and I do, frequently). But the fact remains that if this was a bank that had failed - for 2 months - to act on multiple specific instructions to make a payment of my money, they would be on the hook for compensation. Why is it acceptable for HMRC to be able to avoid this...?

While I sympathise with you over the delay, submitting a tax return and the system showing someone is owed a refund does not mean HMRC have checked the figures/calculation.

In those circumstances, I would not expect HMRC to refund any money until this process is carried out - which may not be possible immediately if they are waiting for data from other parties to validate yours.

Separately, I suspect that some of those who file their tax return early may be using provisional figures that they then update over time...

DBdoobydoo

DBdoobydoo said:

I had an online chat with 'Sharon' who informed me that

"The timescale for your repayment is 15/08/2024 Your repayment should be dealt with by this date Contact us if you have still not received the repayment after this date"

It's a bit rich that I am owed over £4K due entirely to HMRC's error in my tax code & that it takes them four months to issue a repayment. I several times pointed out that my tax code was wrong only for them to mess it up a couple more times. As it was nearly the end of the tax year I thought that it was no problem as it would all get sorted when I submitted my Self Assessment. Last year I was owed £2K & received payment withibn a couple of weeks.

I called up on 15th August & was told that a letter had been sent to me on 13th August but they couldn't tell me the contents of the letter. I'm resident in France so it will be three weeks or more before a letter reaches me not because the French postal service is poor but because HMRC's inscrutable processes involve the letter being posted in the Netherlands some weeks after they claim it is sent.