Halifax tax residency letter - any suggestions?

[SinkGirl]

I had a letter a while ago from Halifax asking me to confirm my country of tax residence. I have never even lived abroad, never had a foreign phone number, haven’t even been on holiday for years.

Googled it and found you could confirm it online so did that.

Now got another letter with a form to complete, I apparently need to provide ID from a list (none of which I have - passport has expired and I don’t drive) and have it certified by a very limited list of people.

I have two disabled kids and health issues myself and no bloody time or energy to be dealing with this.

It says if I don’t they’ll “pass the information they currently have to the tax authorities” - err, what information?! Born in the U.K, never left the country for longer than three weeks, never been paid by an overseas company, have paid tax or NI here every year since I left school.

Anyone else had this?

Gosh, how difficult for you. We had something like this with our HSBC business bank account despite having been a customer for 20+ years. We had to fill in a form confirming we weren't selling arms, dealing with oppressive regimes or money laundering. Loads of other questions plus we needed copies of our IDs. I don't remember them having to be cerified though.

Can you phone the Halifax to explain your situation?

Can you phone up and talk to a human being? It sounds like they think you are trying to claim tax residency elsewhere or something. Very odd.

It’s so bizarre! I’ve been a customer for about a decade, obviously had to provide ID when I joined. Part of me feels like saying fine, go ahead and share your info with the authorities - I haven’t done anything! But then I imagine that having HMRC on your back isn’t fun even if you haven’t done anything.

I’m literally right in the middle of sorting legal documents to take our local authority to tribunal to try and sort out education for my boys, which is stressful enough and I did not need this today!

Can’t call them today due to the twins needing me in the room constantly but will call tomorrow when they are at nursery.

The form asks for my tax identification number - my what now?! Surely I can just send a copy of my P60 / last P45? I claim tax credits, I pay PAYE... it’s bonkers.

Ring them up and speak to someone. I had to have a chat with someone from my bank's fraud department or whatever when we moved abroad. They wanted to know a bit about my account and some of the money going in. It wasn't a big deal and they left us alone after the phone call.
I do, however, have a tax ID...from the country we currently live in.
Perhaps it's simply a mistake.