HMRC and backlog

[Newyearnewyou2026]

I submitted a claim for overpayment relief from a self assessment tax return I submitted in Nov as I know my previous employer make a mistake (payment from PAYE been paid back so know I overpaid tax). I sent a letter mid Nov 2025 and got told I should have had a response by end Dec! I read it could take an extra 12 weeks but I called them today for them to say they’d respond by 6 December 2026 over a year after I submitted the request. Why is it taking that long? I’ve had several issues with them and seem to think they can hold onto your money for as long as possible.

They haven't changed your tax code instead, have they?

So you're making a change to a previously submitted tax return which is causing an overpayment. What tax year is it for?

I interpret this as your employer overpaid you and subsequently recovered the overpayment. Are you sure that the tax adjustment wasn't made at the same time? When did the overpayment & subsequent recovery take place?

I don't quite understand what you are attempting to rectify and why you did an overpayment relief claim rather than just amending the return as you can amend a return up to 31Jan after the 31Jan it needed to be submitted. So if its 23/34 you are trying to amend you could have just amended rather than do an overpayment relief claim.

Anyway overpayment relief claims are very slow at the moment, we have been waiting over 6 months for some of our clients claims to be processed. So you may have a long wait yet.

It sounds as though she submitted her 24/25 tax return in Nov 25, so in the correct submission period, and is waiting for a refund of tax for 24/25. It's less clear why HMRC have given themselves 12 months to respond.

If you use the "where is my reply" tool, the results are shocking. Did one for work re something sent in at end of sept 25 and they said to expect a reply by end July 26, so a 10 month response time. They are seriously under resourced and there's a whole new system coming in April. MTD.

MTD, another great excuse for clients to think they know what they're doing, whilst we have to clear up the mess later!

2022/2023 self assessment my employer had got my P11d wrong on a green lease deal for 3
yeara as they hadn’t put in my electric mileage. I used to have to do self assessment but now as they increased threshold to £150K I do PAYE. Got monies back for PAYE quickly hence why I know they owe me money. They warned it might be 6 months but when I called my expected outcome is Dec 2026. Shocking!
it’s too long for a reply

I've just been told a year for a query over national insurance contributions. It's already been over a year and now they need to put a caseworker on it. He said that hopefully it would be sorted by the time I reached state pension age (a few years off!).

They can't get around to collecting taxes, either.

I think I overpaid tax 24/25 but as I’m pure PAYE I no longer need to do self assessment, but now I’m waiting for HMRC to realise I’ve paid too much. I’d rather complete a self assessment!

If I’d underpaid tax they would expect me to complete SA by 31 Jan, why can’t they do the same?

Yeah the priority at the moment will be on the massive amount of work for 24/25 returns. Earlier SA years especially where manual processing is needed will take longer. At priority times like the SA peak, workers from other areas tend to be moved around as well to cover phones etc while others are processing 24/25 paper returns so increasing backlog.