Refund of childcare voucher paid in cash

tightmanny

Hi. I pay my child's nursery in childcare vouchers and the nursery has overcharged me by £123.85. They have refunded me in cash and told me i am liable for £24.77 in tax. They have also said they cannot process the tax refund through the voucher provider (who have also confirmed that to me). My employer can't do it owing to the voucher being "cashed", so I'm left with contacting HMRC direct to deal with it. The amount doesn't bother me, but the thought of dealing with HMRC on the phone over this amount fills me with dread! Is there a shortcut anyone can recommend, or any webchat with them - i tried asking the digital assistant but that could help or direct me to a human. Any help or suggestions appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Jemma01

I worked for HMRC, the ppl there are fine. Try working for a legal firm and you'll realise truly what dread looks like. Ringing is the easiest way to get things understood and sorted. You can chat on the webchat, I found it harder to explain the problem, esp as I found the assistant jumping into conclusions incorrectly, rather than asking clarification questions. At least with the phone, you can interject before they tell you the wrong answer. I ended up calling after the webchat, so it was just waste of time.

Exodi

tightmanny

the thought of dealing with HMRC on the phone over this amount fills me with dread!

Jemma01

Try working for a legal firm and you'll realise truly what dread looks like.

I think I can trump this (though admittedly it's not my experience, but my sisters).

As we all know, many supermarkets offer fantastic Christmas food that you can pre-order in advance for the big day - turkeys, seafood platters, etc.

My sister works for one such supermarket. Unfortunately, nothing ever goes perfectly, so oftentimes there will be short deliveries, where the supermarket receives less turkeys, seafood platters, etc in than they took orders for.

My sisters had the inenviable task of calling people, who might have pre-ordered the items weeks or even months in advance, on Christmas Eve, to let them down.

What's more, as with all OOS, the system would substitute, which might be swapping a large turkey with a chicken if you're lucky, or a pack of Bernard Matthews turkey ham if you're not. Or substituting seafood platter with seafood sticks. My sister usually went against policy and unilaterally rejected most substitutes without mentioning to the customer as it would almost certainly be incendiary.

Customers can be rotten at the best of times, but that particular task was one she dreaded all year (and was all too happy to hand it off to a new naïve team member - much to the amusement of their colleagues who might find it hysterical listening to their new colleague calling a belligerent customer on Christmas Eve to let them know they don't have the turkey they ordered 2 months ago, but whether they'd be interested in turkey mince instead).

Suffice to say, the customers would go absolutely nuclear. And after taking an absolute earful, you had to call the next and do the same.

Obviously this is meant as a bit of a light hearted comment, there will be many roles that deal with far more genuinely terrifying things (e.g. police, doctors, etc).

To the OP, I've always found HMRC easy to deal with on the phone.

GrubbyGirl_2

I actually find HMRC one of the easier government organisations to talk to on the phone

MiloWexley

I’d try HMRC’s online services first and keep the nursery/voucher provider’s confirmation as evidence. Hopefully you can get it sorted without a phone call!

UKTaxHelper

One thing to flag when you report it, that £123.85 loses the NI exemption as well, not just the tax. Their £24.77 is exactly 20 percent so it only covers the income tax side.

tightmanny

Thanks for the comments. I've tried all the online options but no luck. It's just a bit of a pain for a relatively small amount. I'll look to call up early one morning, then wait..…