Does the Inland Revenue make mistakes??

[twiglett]

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Twiglett - the short answer is Yes the the Inland Rev do make mistakes.

I have been receiving Child Tax Credit since April and it's alot more than I'm entitled to! I didn't notice until last month. I thought they had stopped it. I am now crapping myself at the thought of having to pay it all back even though it was THEIR mistake.

All the gov departments make major mistakes!

My mum recently found her pension payment (into her bank acc) changed from monthly to weekly, without any notice.

Then, lo and behold, they also paid her monthly pension as normal.

When she rang them to check it took over an hour to sort out. Then they said it would cost so much to sort out she could keep the 1 months extra money

Mind you - we're not talking 3K here! They might want to claim that back

They do make mistakes, but you never know, this might not be one! Do you have an accounts-savvy friend who could go over the figures for you?

If it does turn out to be a mistake, I would probably phone them: they may try to charge you interest on it if they ask for it back and, well, I don't like messing with the IR!

twiglett, as lucy123 says, I definitely wouldn't mess with the Inland Revenue. I'd recommend giving them a call (the number should be on any correspondence you've had from them). Explain that you don't understand how they've calculated a repayment and ask them to go through the figures with you. IME they are usually very happy to do this, and you never know, it might be right!

How strange Twiglett, DH and I have both received cheques in the last week from the Inland Revenue and guess what, they are both for ......£2700 ish! Coincidence or what!

Unfortunately I have to bank mine to pay the next lot of tax, I had planned on going skiing, twice instead of once. Shouldn't be going at all, but can't stand the thought of rellies (DH's) over Christmas, so we have been away for the last 8 years.

They'll ask for it back soon enough if it is wrong!

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Yes - they make mistakes. No - this doesn't mean the money is yours (sorry).

I would call them or phone saying that you don't understand the calculation of the figure they have come up with and can they write to you to set out how it has arisen. That way they will have to recheck their figures. if they were wrong, well it wasn't really yours anyway and if they were right, and have paid the correct amount, then book that holiday!

I believe they ALWAYS make mistakes just to keep themselves in work. They have never managed to get anything right first go with either myself or DH.

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What people don't seem to grasp is that self-assessment calculations are based ONLY on what you write on the form. If you make a mistake with the figures or leave something off, the forms are dealt with on a "process now- check later' basis. So if you get a refund you shouldn't have, when the form gets to the "check" stage you WILL be asked to pay it back. They have 6 years to ask for it back as well, and once you go into a new tax year you will start incurring interest...

SELF assessment means exactly that, and the onus is on the individual to speak up if it is wrong.

Aside from the Tax Credit fiasco (which was caused by EDS & the computer system), IME most "mistakes caused by the Revenue" are down to people not supplying the right info/ not filling in forms fully/ not understanding what part they play themselves... Like "I moved 3 years ago" (did you notify them? no), "I changed jobs 2 years ago & I'm still on emergency tax" (did you hand your P45 to your new employer? no) etc etc. I think Furball's comments are unfair.