To think it shouldn't take 4+ months to get a tax refund

[atlaz]

Just want to vent really, due to job changes resulting in emergency tax code shortly followed by redundancy I've overpaid about 3.5k in tax. I've been trying to claim a refund since January, but first I had to wait to be out of work 4 weeks and then I had to wait for a payment from the insolvency service and then wait another 4 weeks and now today I find out that they don't have the correct information and now I have to write in with all the details. I thought it was all electronic these days?

I have no advice to give but I understand your annoyance.
HMRC are less than useless, no department knows what the other is doing.
I had bailiffs after me for £200, I paid the money and two days later I received a cheque for £2,765.00!!
Apparently I am taxed via paye and self assessment.
This may be the electronic era but HMRC are still stuck in the dim and distant past.

YANBU HMRC are less use than a chocolate fireguard

Apparently they now make it very difficult for you to claim a tax refund mid year, they want to leave it to the end of the tax year and the next repay you by altering your tax code so they hand on to your money as long gone as possible.

They were fine when I did it. I had to send off my P45 and fill out s form saying I wouldn’t be working for the rest of the tax year. They then repaid me within two weeks. The webchat device was great, as was the phone line!

They were fine when I did it. I had to send off my P45 and fill out a form saying I wouldn’t be working for the rest of the tax year. They then repaid me within two weeks. The webchat service was great, as was the phone line!

Hmrc are a joke.
I used to employ staff and when 2 of them went on maternity leave I had to pay smp from my own pocket and claim it back. It took 2 YEARS to get that money back. Ridiculous!

We got a red letter from Bailiffs the same week HMRC sent us a cheque for rebate minus the figure we owed them. Go figure.

Cant stand the fuckers.

They were fine when I did it. I had to send off my P45

The issue is that for some reason the earnings HMRC recorded for me don't actually match what I've earnt and don't match what was on my most recent P45.

I've had 3 job changes in the 17/18 tax year and I'm certain that from doing some calculations my tax has been overpaid but I'm dreading the effort and hassle to try and get it back to the point that I'm entertaining the idea of not bothering for the sake of a couple of hundred quid. Utterly ridiculous know!

I think most of the issue is the fact that people working in companies have no idea what they should be sending in or paying and cock it up left right and centre - HMRC can only work with what they get. Am in similar sitch at the min - employed as a Director in a co no p45 when stopped being paid. New job BR code 2 mths finally got a code they applied it incorrectly means HMRC now owe me around 1k arghghgh

@atlaz So in that case wouldn't it be your employer's problem, not HMRC? HMRC only knows what it's been told by your employer!

Agreed, that’s your ex employer’s fault then. HMRC can only work with what information they have been given. Do you still have your payslips?

I found them decent when I filled in my tax return for a similar situation, a change of job where I was on emergency tax. My new employer spelt my surname wrong initially so none of my payments for a year were recorded under HMRC’s records even though my NI number was always correct, and the incorrect spelling changed. It was all sorted by sending them my p45 from old employer and p60 from new employer. It only took about a week for them to sort out and refund me too.

Do write them another letter saying that the information that they hold for you is incorrect and send them your p45 as evidence.

Company is insolvent which is why they're my ex-employer. Figure is correct on my P45. HMRC seem to be holding some sort of projected earnings which weren't actually paid. I'm pretty sure that HMRC aren't receiving this information from my ex-employer as they haven't existed for 3 months after filing for insolvency.

I have a client who has been waiting over 4 years for his money.
He and I wish HMRC would get on and take him to court as then their incompetence would be there for the press to see.
Oddly when we say that, they go away.

Normally I just wait for a refund to be processed automatically, but a combination of taking a lower paying job, being put on emergency tax and then being out of work means the 3.5k tax I've overpaid would really be useful sooner rather than later!

They are really useless. We have one U.K. employee and I've spent over 100 hours getting payroll set up between ADP and HMRC. It took me one day to set up 50 employees between ADP, state of Ohio and federal IRS. The IRS agent was so nice and helpful. It was actually a pleasure doing business with them.

The 7th circle of hell which is the new pension scheme is also completely mis managed.

They are really useless. We have one U.K. employee and I've spent over 100 hours getting payroll set up between ADP and HMRC.

It seems crazy to use ADP for one employee. DP would have done that for you for a fraction of what ADP will charge!

He used to work for ADP and moaned like mad about them. Then he went to manage the payroll for a company that used ADP, and moaned like mad about ADP. He said they were getting money for old rope, and that as the client company was doing 75% of the work, they might as well do the whole job and not pay ADP.

I think this business of HMRC wanting to hang on to overpaid tax and repay it over 12 months by adjusting the tax code is really unfair. After all, if you're self employed and you owe them money, they're very quick to start issuing penalties and charging interest.

Having said that, I've found the people on the employee helpline really good. When a colleague had been on a BR code for nearly 3 years, because the self-employed bit of HMRC seemed incapable of deregistering her as self-employed, they got it sorted and a new notice of coding issued in less than 2 weeks. She got a £5k refund when she got paid at the end of the following month.

Had you taken a pay cut in the lead up to your employer going bust? I may be wrong, but I think I was told once that if you take a pay cut to help your employer out when they just can't afford it, HMRC will tax the employer on the basis of what you should have been earning, rather than what you were.

Clearly none of that is your fault - you have a P45 and payslips that agrees to the amounts you've received, but it may explain how their system is showing something different than what you've provided.

Write to them again, provide copies of all your payslips, your P45, and maybe redacted copies of your bank statements showing that you've received the same amount as per your payslip.

If you're able to calculate your own tax liability, I would add:

"My calculations indicate that my tax and national insurance contributions for the period of my employment are £XXX, and consequently I calculate that a refund of £YYY is due to me. I can confirm that I have had no other earnings for the remainder of the tax year ended 5th April 2018.

I believe I have now provided all the information that you will need to process my refund, and would request that this is repaid to me in full, rather than adjusted via a future tax code.

As this matter has been dragging on since January, I would appreciate you attending to this as a matter of urgency."

you can fill out a P800 form it should be simple enough, to reclaim overpaid tax for the last 4 years. but you do need to wait till after the year end which has just passed, so you should be able to fill in the form now for the 2017-18 year

BTW if it is National insurance you won't be able to claim it back only the Tax overpayment

No paycut, I worked for 6 months in 2017/2018 tax jobs in a higher paid role elsewhere with another company, so for the first six months was paying tax as if they were my projected earnings for the year. Then my first month in my new role I was taxed on an emergency code as I already had a payslip from my old company for that month. Normally, the tax would have sorted itself out in the next payslip but that payslip never came! I claimed a proportion of unpaid wages from the insolvency service and also paid tax there but again HMRC has no knowledge of this.

Basically for 2017/2018 I've paid about 14k tax on 45k earnings. On the live chat yesterday I was told I couldn't fill in a P800 or claim online for the overpayment as HMRC couldn't process it correctly as they don't have the correct information.

I've written in with all the details, just irritates me that I have two electronic P45's and I'm signed up for a paperless service but still have to print things out and send them snailmail.

Lakie We have 50 odd employees over 6 jurisdictions. Adp is so much easier as we pay one bill and if someone moves they can move them to the correct jurisdiction.

Adp here in the US is pretty good.

If I were you it would be worth going to an accountant and getting it sorted through them, as an agent HMRC will converse better with them, Its not fair but it works I've done it.

And then I'm dealing with 6 accountants across Europe every month with payroll. ADP is set and forget until I have a change and I like the site from a controls perspective.