Come here to grumble about HMRC

[CaribouCarafe]

Been doing a lovely tango with HMRC over the past few weeks and thought I'd create a chat for anyone else who fancies a grumble.

My circumstances:

• 2023/2024 was self-employed for half the year, ended my self-employment and became full-time employed from Feb 2024
• Filled in my self assessment in April with details of all my income, specifying that I was a Scottish tax resident, and that my self-employment had ceased
• Got a 'correction' back from HMRC requesting 2k LESS tax from me than what I'd calculated, as they'd decided randomly that I'm on a UK tax rate
• I called them up to correct them. 1 hour into the call HMRC just randomly cuts me off (having put me on hold for 45 mins first)
• They've placed an 'adjustment' on my account that now states that I should pay them 3k over what they're actually due (so 5k over what their initial sum was) - based on their adjustment, I'd have had to have earned an additional 16k in income than what I actually did. No details as to how they derived this bonkers figure
• They've also updated my tax code for my PAYE to reduce my personal allowance - again, randomly they've decided I'll be earning over 100k even though I've declared my self-employment as having ceased and my 2024/2025 income will be substantially less than that (especially since I'll be on mat leave for 6 months of it on maternity allowance as I don't qualify for mat pay)
• I've tried to call them every day since but keep getting cut off after 5 minutes saying there's no advisers available to take my call
• I've sent them messages since and updated my digital account so fingers crossed the amendments come through within their supposed 15 day response window
• argh!

Just why is nothing easy?? Really regret trying to do the right thing and correcting them about my residency now!

Is the additional £3k a payment on account for 2024/25? If so, you can make a claim via your gateway account to reduce this to nil.

If you have notified them that your self employment has ceased and if there is no other reason for you to file a 2024/25 tax return you should receive a letter from HMRC saying that no further tax returns are required. If you do not receive a letter then next April you will need to check whether a notice to complete a 2024/25 tax return has been issued and if it has you should contact HMRC and ask them to withdraw the notice.

When HMRC finally correct your tax return figures they will probably issue a new PAYE code which may or may not be correct.

Calls to HMRC on Saturday or weekdays after 6pm used to have a shorter hold time than calls during office hours.

Hi @spannasaurus unfortunately the additional 3k is for the 2023/2024 tax year. Confusingly in the original amendment letter I got (the one where they asked for less tax), they'd said I owe them £0 for the 2024/2025 tax year for self-employment, but now on my account I can see that they've put in some projected earnings from self-employment for the current tax year and updated my personal allowance accordingly.

I've put in the claim on the government gateway to reduce my self-employed tax to nil and awaiting a response.

I've just checked and their call centres are only open Monday to Friday: 8am to 6pm and closed on weekends and bank holidays. I've been calling them at random intervals in the day (e.g. 10:15am) and avoiding lunchtimes, 8am and 5pm as I assumed those would be their peak call times.

I'm sure they'll eventually come to the right figure, but I'd really hoped to get this sorted and pay off my National Insurance before putting in my Mat Allowance claim...but with 9 weeks to go before the baby is due I'm starting to get quite antsy about how long everything is taking to sort out!

Sorry I forgot that the helpline opening times had been changed. I only call during office hours.

They are a nightmare, my husband has constant issues with them. He rang a few months ago as his HR department told him he may have paid too much tax on his pension, he also kept getting cut off randomly half way through the call, after been on hold for ages. Then the lady confirmed he had paid too much tax on his pension, then also that his tax code was wrong and he was paying too much on his income. She said she would adjust it so it was correct. Now after doing his assessment he has been told that was wrong and he is paying the wrong tax 😂

@Monkeybutt1 gosh that sounds frustrating, at this point I'm pretty sure they just use a random number generator for their tax calculations 😂

Fkn HMRC fkn bunch of fkn cunts.

I can't be arsed to tell the whole long tale but they tried to charge me 2k and harassed me about it when I was heavily pregnant with an unexpected 1st pregnancy in my 20s.. living in a bedsit.. on a zero hours minimum wage contract.. with no savings.. supposedly on PAYE
My work sent them some wrong info which lead them to believe I should have been on self assessment.. they sent the letter to the wrong address despite having my real address... then charged me tonnes of fines.
I had nothing and I couldn't even claim maternity pay as the info my job had sent was wrong for that too (it's more complicated than that but I can't be arsed going into it) despite working full time hours. I was working on secure wards and they didn't want me once I was visibly pregnant due to the risk so I didn't get asked for so I had no hours... so no income... no maternity pay and couldn't claim any benefits as I was technically employed.

And the HMRC started harassing me for money.. I had to steal milk and pasta from the supermarket to live and the HMRC were trying to get 2k off me.. I had debt collection agencies harassing me
I was really sick during the pregnancy too I didn't know what to do and developed depression.

It took 2 years to sort...

And guess what. It was sorted by someone I rang at the HMRC who just pressed a button and said 'oh yeah they got you mixed up with someone else' and the whole thing went away..

After 2 years of weekly ringing and writing letters etc.. and being treated like a criminal by anyone I spoke to and like I was lying...
It just took one decent member of staff to just click a button

It still makes me so angry 10 years later.

I've had constant nightmares with them for the last 20+ years re myself, but mostly business, and they are awful.

Also had the issue with my income for current year being over estimated . I was able to adjust it myself on their system. V bizarre though ... their estimate was double my actual income

@Alwaysgothiccups fucking hell that's awful, especially since they were able to resolve it so easily once they actually bothered!

@wizzler ha! I've got essentially the same issue for current tax year - I wish I was earning as much as they project that I'll earn...hopefully they'll manifest it for me...

What happens if you write them a good old fashioned letter, detailing clearly the errors, sent signed for so you know when it arrived?

If you send a letter today the expected reply date is 12 October 2024

OP. Have you viewed the most recent HMRC tax calculation online to check that the income included is correct.

I sent a letter about 3 years ago......still not got a reply😂 and I was telling them I owed some tax ( only about £300 from short term rental, normally just PAYE). I did eventually get them to take it by adjusting my tax code but it was hard work, began to wish i hadn't bothered!!

I have, and no matter what tool I use I can't get to either of the figures that HMRC came up with!

Also, frustratingly, because my tax was a bit convoluted this year I'd hired an accountant to check everything over for me...so it was definitely accurate when I sent it off. Prior to HMRC helpfully 'correcting' things...

I sent one in March and have heard nothing.

Have you not approached the accountant who checked the return for help

They told me HMRC is wrong and that I need to call them up...which I have done (or at least attempted to!).

Did the accountant tell you where HMRC had got it wrong or just that is was wrong?

That HMRC was wrong. To be honest, there's no way they aren't wrong - the amount of tax that they're requesting would be for a much higher income than what I received in 2023/2024. Would rather not get into a debate about whether me+accountant+every tax tool online is wrong vs HMRC to be honest and get back to a nice old grumble!

I've found their online chat service to be far, far better than the telephone "service"...

@MathiasBroucek I've tried using the online chat but it keeps telling me they have no-one available - I'd much prefer that option than telephoning, especially as you can get a receipt of your conversation afterwards!

I guess they've ballsed up so many people's tax this year that they don't have enough advisors for the volumes of customers.

If i ever needed to call previously I would call 15 minutes before the lines closed. You’re much more likely to get an answer than calling first thing in the morning.

Dh has had several run ins with these people and it's always a long wait on the phones and confusing letters. It was sorted out, but took ages.
It'll only get worse as I'm sure there will be further cuts to the civil service regardless of who gets in power. I think they could do with more who actually know what they are talking about.

I really worry about the state of HMRC. It seems to be in total disarray.

This is the problem though with public sector bodies like that who haven't given decent pay rises in years and years and whose pension terms and conditions have just got worse and worse. When you combine that with the high cost of living, people who are very experienced or skilled will just go elsewhere where they can earn more money. And they will leave faster than they can recruit new people to train up and replace them.