Bugsy Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 The current annual ad with Moira Stewart sitting in a cupboard warning people about the £100 fine that will be charged for a late tax return has prompted this thought.Mrs Bugs has now been waiting for over six months for her query on an overcharge on tax on a small UK pension to be dealt with. The last letter she received (August) advised her to "not bother writing again as there was a 'backlog' of queries and it would be dealt with as soon as they were able.Well, that would be reasonable for a month or, even, two, but its now over six.Perhaps a letter advising them that the current penalty they have incurred for lateness is now £600.Any thoughts ...................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonrouge Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 I continue to have interest at source deducted from a building society deposit. Normally it took about eight months to organise to get it back then I had to post it back to the Building Society from whence it came!Now have the name of a lovely lady at Nottingham and all I do is to email her when I see the amount of tax that is deducted and the repayment arrives within days.I just kept my head and pestered and pestered them not in letter form for they currently go into sacks with a date code on the label and they are opened in strict date order! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Amazing and very shoddy treatment. It's strange that there is no problem with them finding you when there is a chance of getting some money out of you. When I left the UK I spent a week sending out letters to just about every company/organisation I had dealt with over the years including the Inland Revenue (as it was called at the time) and of course sending them all by registered post. I was amazed that three years down the line they had found me in rural France and sent me a letter demanding £300+ in fines for not completing a UK tax return.I called them and told them I had sent them a letter (by registered post - gave them the number etc) telling them I was emmigrating, the date I left the UK and that I was tax resident in France and had been since I left the UK. They told me to put it all in a letter and attach copies of my French tax forms. I then got a rather snotty letter back which basically said that out of the kindness of their heart, and that they didn't really have to do this, they had decided to cancel the fines and that I should let them know if my position changes, bloody cheek. The intersting point is I only told them I was going to France and never gave them my address here. I nearly wrote back giving them both barrels but to mis-quote "theres nothing worse than a tax collector scorned" so didn't bother, mainly on the advice of my wife who's always right.[;-)]So it seems to me that if you owe them money, or they think you do, they come after you with a vengance. If the boots on the other foot and they owe you money the tough luck, get in the queue and wait and wait and wait. [:'(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 I think many people on here have waitied months, Bugs, for (in some cases not insubstantial) tax rebates when they've moved from the UK system to the French. Mine took nigh-on a year. No suggestion that they should pay me any interest on my money whilst they hung onto it. This isn't altogether a government problem - as ever it's the gross inefficiency of our civil service which has been the same under all hues of government for as long as I remember. I don't reckon Mr C and his cronies are going to change this state of affairs either - it is just too lucrative for the exchequer, n'est-ce pas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 What I don't understand is how my ex son-in-law has, according to the CSA, not submitted a return at all for the last three years. My experience has always been closer to that of other posters here.Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Is he working Hoddy, thats how they normally find you if you are in the UK? Don't worry they will find him eventually and think of the fines and interest he faces. They never did explain exactly how they found me, lucky I hadn't done anything wrong. Its also lucky I found this forum when I did because I would never have thought to send of all those letters otherwise nor who to send them to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 He's self-employed and hasn't moved house. I'm afraid it looks to me as though the Inland Revenue is as useless as the CSA.Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 It's the people who don't make any returns who get away with it. Those who do - even those who honestly account for all income and outgoings - are the ones who get all the hassle. I'm actually talking about experience with les impôts here, but I am sure HMRC is the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Well Hoddy seeing as the old IR is on a witch hunt at the moment to get every last penny from anyone they can perhaps somebody might report him. I understand you can do this online, by phone or by post and the best thing is its free. Just in case anyone is ever interested I found THIS page on their website, no name, no pack drill, etc, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Did that last October with chapter and verse. No result so far.Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gastines Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Funny how they can find details and paperwork if they want to or if they think a bonus might be theirm reward. About 2 years after we bought our first house in Brittany, we had a nice form to fill in from the I.R. asking how we had paid for the house,via which bank,or otherwise,where the money had come from? were we in receipt of any rent etc.etc. about 20 questions in all .Fortunately we had done it all legit. Over the last few years although we have been tax payers here for 7 years we arestill get problems with them. Some bright boy decided to deduct 20% tax at source on a payment although all accounts with the same bank are paid gross. Since then we have found ourselves dealing with 5 different Tax offices, all pass it on. It's like a magic roundabout full of hopeless inefficient nonentities.Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Yes, but...............http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jan/25/tax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gastines Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Nervous breakdown time. My wife's claim has been sent from office one via four other depts over the course of 8 months back to office one!!! Phoned this morning to see what happened to the letter being sent to us in SEptember?" Don't know anything about that,Your claim should have been dealt with by ofice one and has been returned to them" After 8 months!!!! " Can I phone to ask if it is being dealt with? No,any calls go to any dept that has a free line? God help us all, if this is an example of how the Government run their departments. We were advised that the huge backlog would entail a wait of about 12 weeks. This backlog is probably caused by staff being unable or unwilling to deal with anything and passing it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex H Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 [quote user="Gastines"]Phoned this morning [/quote]You were lucky to get a reply http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8460182.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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