To be annoyed with HMRC?

[FancyFingers]

We made a payment for self assessment in early January, of £5k.

It turns out they've "lost" this money, and need to investigate where it has gone. The payment was made via online banking, with correct account/sort code, and payment reference. We've clarified this with the bank.

We sent a copy of the bank statement transaction which details this. HMRC are continuing to send chaser demands with threats of bailiffs/debt recovery and charges.

They've given us an end date of late April to have dealt with this by.

But receiving increasingly threatening letters isn't nice when you know we're not at fault.

Dh is under huge amounts of stress at the moment and these letters add to this. Apparently they can't stop them, so god knows what we will be receiving next.

what a horrible stressful situation, at least you've got proof you paid it correctly. I hope it gets sorted quickly yadnbu

If you have all the back up to prove it was paid, I would be inclined to write to HMRC providing this again and to bring it to a close invite them to take you to court. Sometimes court is the only way to resolve these matters. BUT you must be confident you have all proof, you don't want it backfiring!

The transaction comes up with the payment details, and we called the bank to ask them to confirm it all. It mirrors the payment instruction received from hmrc.

Are you sure it was a payment to HMRC and not a scammer? I

HMRC did also change banks fairly recently for overseas payers if that applies to you.

I would complain using the online form on their website and it should be picked up more quickly. I am surprised, as online payments are normally straightforward to trace.

I deal with HMRC on a daily basis.

Have you been told that recovery action has been frozen until end April? If so then ignore the letters - they can't stop them.

What are they doing to trace the payment, have they confirmed all your details are correct? Often when this happens it's because of duplicate records, so a payment is made to one account but the liability is sitting on another. Your DH should ask them to confirm that there is only one self assessment account set up in his name.

Are they denying receipt of the payment entirely?

My immediate response to your title was "No!" before I even read your post!

Now that I've read it, I still agree with myself !
If you've got proof make copies and send them to the complaints department. Make a note of everything - times, names of who you spoke to, which call centre, etc.
It's hard work dealing with HMRC and they are very reluctant to admit fault unless the facts are staring them in the face. I found this out the hard way (on a different matter) but persisted and it paid off. Eventually, I got a CD of the conversations I'd had which proved my case but, I'm afraid to say, it took a long time.

Good luck!

It wasn't a scam. We paid our accountant after and that went through ok.

They've told you that letters are auto generated whilst they're investigating.
You know you've made the payment, so you know it's just time to resolve it on their side.
It's a ball ache, but there it is.
If your husband can't cope with the letters, can you not open them to double check each one isn't related to sorting it out?

And of course YANBU to be annoyed!

The reason I asked was that I helped someone last year who thought she had used the HMRC website to file her return and pay but was actually on a scam site. She kept a screenshot luckily. They kept part of the money and did not pay it over to HMRC.

That came to light in a similar way - she insisted she had paid - but HMRC had no record - she had paid but not the right organisation. Her return was also wrong.

Use the complaints process it will resolve it more quickly.

Yanbu