Mistakes Made By The Tax Authorities

linden_2

I received a demand for extra tax in 2005 . Since I didn't understand this demand I visited my local Tax Office for help . The official told me the demand was wrong and that , in fact , they OWED me money . I received a refund .
Last year I started receiving demands for unpaid tax , with all the charges and interest . After several months of letters and phone calls I realised that it was about this refund . It had been a mistake and they finally admitted it was THEIR mistake .
I have managed to get them to agree to remove charges and interest , but if I need to repay by installments I will be charged 8% interest .

I keep hearing about mistakes made by the Tax Office . Whatever their mistakes , the tax payer is still penalised , and appeals are lengthy , worrying and unlikely to succeed .

I hear that this year they haven't provided the calculations of tax owed on online self assessment forms and the taxpayer will be penalised if they do not pay the full amount on time .

I understand that this branch of government cannot be taken to court ?
Does this mean that there is no recourse to a European court as well ?
No Human Rights case ?

I would like to see a public campaign to make the Department accountable for its mistakes and to remove the right to penalise the taxpayer when the mistake is theirs .
Linden

Murdina

Start by making a formal complaint yourself. Look at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/c12.htm and take your complaint to the second tier up if you need to. You can ask for financial compensation.
If you are not happy with the reaction, then having gone down the internal route you can now approach either the Ombudsman http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/ or the Revenue Adjudicator http://www.adjudicatorsoffice.gov.uk/
I think it is really important not to take these situations lying down and these are the current ways to complain and get financial compensation.
There has been a recent case which allowed an individual to get damages in tort when a Revenue official seriously misled them. This is I believe unique so far.
If you wanted to take a human rights argument, you would have to show that you had tried all other remedies first in the UK.
Good luck (by the way, I have complained personally and I have received an amount by way of compensation, even though I did not ask for it).

linden_2

Thank you Murdina .
I've been pursuing this for a year now . I certainly haven't been offered any compensation ; I'm still receiving demands for instant payment or 8% interest on installment payments .
I have already been to my MP who wrote to the Chancellor's office and now it's back with the Tax people .

The reason I posted this was because there must be so many others out there who would be frightened ; intimidated or unable to deal with the endless phone calls and letters .

Moneysavingexpert has taken on the banks .
Can we take on the Taxman ?

This process wastes the Revenue's time and the Taxpayer's time . When the fault lies indisputably with the Tax Office , why shouldn't Parliament legislate for a reasonable response ?

Pennywise

linden wrote: »

This process wastes the Revenue's time and the Taxpayer's time . When the fault lies indisputably with the Tax Office , why shouldn't Parliament legislate for a reasonable response ?

They have done as per HMRC leaflet:-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/c12.htm

This is the right way of complaining about HMRC and it does work, albeit quite slowly.

If you havn't already done so, I'd suggest following the leaflet and working through the official procedures.

Murdina

you say you have written to your MP but did you ask him to refer to the Ombudsman? I think if you do as Pennywise says and work through the processes and end up at Ombudsman or Adjudicator you are much more likely to get a satisfactory outcome.

It is easy to say take on the taxman but there are so many issues you have to be targeted. Professional bodies actually challenge HMRC all the time as best they can but they approach specific areas e.g the work of the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group. Making and pursueing complaints esp via the routes I suggest does have some impact on HMRC and if your complaint is one of many similar then the Ombudsman make take special action over and above your complaint, as she did with the tax credits fiasco.

Best of luck.