Here is an interesting story sent to me by someone about HMRC changing their address, but not being very open about their new address.
My correspondent has for many years sent his VAT return by post using an enclosed brown envelope, and recorded delivery to ensure proof of sending.
Anyhoo, this quarter HMRC changed the colour of the enclosed envelope to white and the address on the envelope.
So far so good, except for one small problem...the address, whilst it did have a post code, didn't have a town.
In theory, this should still work for recorded delivery; unfortunately there was another problem.
Can you guess what that was?
Yes, that's right, the post office did not/could not recognise the post code (BX5 5AT) on the envelope.
My hapless correspondent then called HMRC, and was given a new postcode (BD98 1YY) to use.
Fair enough, except that the post office will not accept a letter for recorded delivery without a town as well.
Cue another call to HMRC, asking for the town.
Unfortunately, HMRC (for reasons best known to the lady at the call centre) wouldn't give the name of the town (it turns out from a later enquiry that it was Bradford).
Another call, to a more helpful call centre person, confirmed that the printed envelopes had a problem with the post code but that proof of postage can be obtained via a "certificate of postage".
I understand that there has been some trouble with the VAT returns in the period July/August because of this.
I wonder just how many VAT returns have been lost or delayed this quarter because of a misprinted post code on the envelope?
Tax does have to be taxing.
HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
The new address is Accounts Office Shipley - and if you used to fax your return to your local VAT office and them fax it onto Southend for you, that has ended because it has been sacrificed on the altar of efficiency - whatever happened to customer service ???>
ReplyDeleteNot sure why people bother with recorded delivery. Only one of my VAT returns ever went missing and I found that 6 months later behind the old washing machine in the garage. I had no doubt that Customs And Excise hid it there to cover up their own incompetence.
ReplyDeleteYou're kidding ... you want the tax payer to pay for someone at your local vat office to forward your fax to another vat office just because you can't be a**ed to make a note of the correct number ?!?
ReplyDeleteAs of August 2010 this is still the same. In fact the Post Office told me today that they cannot recognise the address even when entered manually to their 'new' system. This isn't the PO's fault this is poos service from HMRC. Having called them I was politely advised that the post code with no town or anything else IS correct.
ReplyDeleteI spent half an hour on the phone today to try and establish where the BX5 5AT post code we were given to send our cheque, actually is as I have never come across a BX post code in the UK. I was assured that this postcode exists but the customer service person would not confirm that it was or was not Bradford. He said that postcode has been working effectively for at least a year. I said the post office would probably not be able to find it and I would therefore not be able to send our cheque by special delivery and it needed to be there in 3 days time. We ended up having to pay by BACS as I refuse to post a letter to post code that as far as I am aware, does not exist. Very strange indeed!
ReplyDeleteFor all those who are very concerned about the BX5 5AT postcode; This postcode belongs to the VAT Debt Management Office in Croydon, Surrey. I believe that huge office at Southend-on-Sea will be closed at some stage and the building sold to property developers and before it is closed, HMRC wants to have an office with a new postcode in order to seperate the VAT payments from rest of the correspondence sent to Croydon Office. Royal Mail's sorting machines are programmed to accept and sort the mail with this new postcode, so there should not be any worries. Anyway, in this time and age who is sending their VAT returns and payments by post? File VAT returns on-line and make payment through internet banking. Who cares where the office is situated as long as these "shites" process the returns and payment properly!!!!
ReplyDeleteCall centre guy hung up when asked to confirm the postcode for returns.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but as little respect as I have for HMRC (which if they were a private company would have been bankrupt years ago), your pitiful person could just have easily googled HMRC for the correct info - which is what I had to do!
ReplyDeletewell I have been googling for days and still come up with nothing
DeleteI've been fined for paying three days late - the fine has to be sent to BX5 AT.
ReplyDelete(All other payments are online, so I don't send cheques normally. Correspondence is never with the same address, or person...)
This is not on the worse than useless HMRC site (constructed by someone to whom logic is a stranger, and intuition an enemy). I found it only after three attempts with different offices to get HMRC to tell me where I had to send the fine.
They wouldn't give the town, either.
Did the same and I was told the town name is not necessary. All the same I have to just send because those people aren't helpful at all. They make things difficult for their fellow citoizens.
ReplyDeleteBecause on 5 occasions the 0300 200 3200 queue has been 12 to 16 minutes long, I decided to phone Debt Management & Banking (to let them know that I had done as they suggested without success. However, DM&B have similar waiting times today, so I decided to write. Royal Mail's online postage requires a town and the DMB 340 postcode BX5 5AB does not exist. The reason I use Recorded Delivery (for no reason I can think of now K/A signed for)is because I have had important letters intended for HMRC go astray (only, incidentally, in the last 10 years or, so and as a contributor to AccountingWeb once remarked, "it may be that we must always use recorded delivery when corresponding with HMRC".
ReplyDeleteI just had a play with Royal Mail online postage.
DeleteIt happily accepts "Unknown" as the town.
And also decapitalises TLAs onto Tlas so turns
HMRC
PO Box DMB 465
into
Hmrc
PO Box Dmb 465
The reason we NEED to use recorded/signed for with the residue is because of their new FINE culture- where everything to them is FINE (it)...
ReplyDelete...Also forgot to mention do not use a courier to this address as they cant find it. The reason being this postcode BD98 1YY is in the middle of a field! and only Royal Mail have a re-direct on it! When asked of a Residue agent; as to the full postal address, was told "we dont want to be found" !! I have later found this postcode to link to the Skipton theater of A Holes. The surface and physical address being:HMRC Shipley, Victoria Street, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD98 1YY.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps with dealing with H M's Rectal C'ts
After Long and it would appear seemlingly fruitless conversations about a missing payment to them (2 hours of conversations with them having found the payment - done through BACS) and "don't worry about any further letters it will be OK " and "I am 95% certain the matter is now closed" I came home yesterday to another letter regarding payment and this time threatening my husband and myself with a visit from the Ballifs, I decided to write and send a letter "Recorded Delivery". It was only because I always thought that BX5 5AB looked a little strange that I decided to Google it. Glad I did otherwise it would have been "returned to sender" or more seriously just left in the chaos that is Royal Mail these days. Another 10 minutes wait on hold and then I had to endure a conversation with a young lady who insisted that BX5 5AB is a real place and then another 10 minutes on hold while she tried to find a bona fida address. This is another instance of HMRC setting people up to fail. Letters take so long to reach you (at least 10 days) that you are already in trouble for failing to reply within their 7 day time deadline, fake addresses, "Helplines" that are no such thing and people who promise to sort something out but who can't be bothered. My husband and I act as unpaid tax collectors for HMRC, and between us we send them in excess of £30,000.00 a year, and for which we are treated like criminals. I am going to be writing to my MP regarding the whole fake address thing, which I can only describe as a joke, makes you wonder if the letters send by "Helen Bilbao from BX5 5AB" is a real person as well. I am thinking about writing as "W. T. Pooh, 100 Acre Wood" and seeing what they think about that!
ReplyDeleteI can confirm that Helen Bilbao IS a real person and a very nice person as well !.
DeleteI wonder if BX5 5AB is not a post code but actually just an internal reference that HMRC in their infinte wisdom use for their own purposes.
ReplyDeleteI received a letter a couple of months ago a photocopy of a tax credits letter saying i owed over 2,000 with the name miss b barralough. The number i was to call was 03002003800. I tried calling the number to try and talk to someone but all it was doing was saying how to pay the debt in full. It was for period 2006-2007. I did not work then as i was at home bringing up my kids.y et it took from 2007 to come to me. I assumed it was a fake letter as i was not getting anywhere. I have just received another letter again photocopy from maximising revenue saying that i failed to get intouch and needed to pay the debt in full which is a different amount infact less. Not sure what to think as the address is different on the website. Im confused and worried.
ReplyDeleteDont pay it then it is a statute barred debt under the limitation act 1980 section 5.hmrc are not exempt from the law unless it was a fraudulent claim (im not suggesting it is ,just saying)
DeleteThis sounds like it might be a scam - someone pretending to be HMRC. You're probably best to phone the HMRC tax credit helpline to check it's genuine, as searching online for that phone number doesn't come up with anything.
DeleteThe helpline number can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/contact-the-tax-credit-office
Stew G
BD98 1YY is in the middle of the Dales!! I don't trust any of these addresses!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the laugh!
ReplyDeleteYesterday I sent a letter to HMRC at BX5 5AB.
Before posting it, I tried to find the postal town using Google. As I faile to find out within the first 3 seconds, I simply added "(Unknown Postal Town)" as one line of the address, although I failed to add "United Kingdom" as the last line.
Just now I glanced at the tab I still had open, and the first Google result was yours. The title and URL made me smile.
We are currently trying to fight a £130,000 robbery by HMRC, so thought I would try and share this with you.
Our blog entry from yesterday, a copy of a letter we sent to David Cameron:
http://www.chards.co.uk/news/letter-david-cameron-prime-minister-130000-hmrc-tax-robbery/
Per Wikipedia
ReplyDelete" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postcode_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom#BX "
technically " The non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality, this allows large organisations long-term flexibility as to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used by Lloyds TSB (BX1 1LT) and the VAT Central Unit of HM Revenue and Customs (BX5 5AT)."
That may make it easier to comprehend, and it would be a decently good idea were it not misused to front abuses of taxpayers.
any one have J Glancy email address ? or the full name
ReplyDeleteWhen I phoned our local HMRC in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne,the Male who took my call said " To Pay Today " I said no,then he put the phone straight down on me.I didnt get a chance to explain,he was very rude.
ReplyDeleteHMRC
ReplyDeleteSt. Mungo's road
Cumbernauld
G70 5TR
And here one of their adresses.
I have their fax number in Bradford >:P
ReplyDeleteJust trying it now to try and sort out a stupid penalty notice they've sent me.
Hah! The fax worked :) Now to wait and see if anyone takes notice of it - I'm trying a new tactic!
ReplyDeleteSo where the hell do we send the letters to?
ReplyDeleteBX55AB any ideas please. I have had so much trouble over the last year with Tax owed. I had three letters from Cardiff, Strathclyde and BX55AB all saying different amounts. You got to just love dealing with three when you cant get answer from one
ReplyDeletehad the same problem but was for dealing with debt management, i was given this bx5 address by the agent but post office said it cant do recorded delivery because the place doesn't exist. does anyone know the proper address? its not even on the hmrc website and the advisers have no clue!
ReplyDeleteHMRC has just lost a case, appealed that case and lost again the tax payer is now getting a bill for £80,000 compensation and £40,000 Legal costs......... Oops
ReplyDeleteDO NOT PAY ANY hmrc "Fines" Look up The bill of Rights Act 1668. ALL fines before conviction are FRAUD and hmrc know this. I am taking them on wholesale regarding this matter. they are CRIMINALS PERIOD!
ReplyDeleteI have an income Tax/PAYE complaint & the postcode for this is BX9 1AB. I duly sent a letter, 3 weeks ago. Silly of me to think I might have had an acknowledgement, but I learnt more from Google.........The non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality, this allows large organisations long-term flexibility as to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used by Lloyds Bank (BX1 1LT) and the VAT Central Unit of HM Revenue and Customs (BX5 5AT)......and, it appears, by lots of HMRC bits and bobs.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we should all send such things in future to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I think he has something to do with HMRC, if memory serves correctly.
Anyone got any better suggestions?
This is interesting - I sent a recorded delivery letter to this BX9 1AB. It was also a PAYE complaint and this address/postcode is the only one currently shown on the HMRC website as the address for such complaints.That was ten days ago and to date the Royal Mail tracker is showing that my letter has still not been delivered. From past experience, this probably means that Royal Mail could not find the address. I'm waiting to see if my letter will come back to me as 'undeliverable' before I take this up further with HMRC - who will be paying for all my postage costs I can assure you.
DeleteSend ALL complaints, letters, etc to either number 10 Downing Street or Number 11 Downing Street, I'm sure that issues will be sorted quickly if these two addresses are folded with 'issues'
ReplyDeleteI've just read with interest ALL of the comments above, having only just come across the BX5 postcode! I'm fighting a very small tax demand by comparison, but like all of you, can't get any reply to my previous correspondence - and that didn't go to BX!! It went to the address on the previous demand: Glasgow.
ReplyDeleteHMRC do have an email messaging service in your government gateway account, but I wouldn't recommend contacting them that way as they don't respond to those either, resulting in fines and penalties when you are sitting there waiting for their advice. No win situation unfortunately, except from them. Do you think all this is designed to generate money now that the income from speed cameras is waning :-))
Tell them your a courier looking to deliver...
ReplyDeleteHM Revenue and Customs
Benton Park View
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ
United Kingdom
Anonymous @ 13.52 it does not matter which address the letter goes to, it will still get forwarded to the outsourced scanning company. As far as I know they are doing their bit, it just won't get worked by HMRC staff any time soon, due to lack of staff
ReplyDeleteJust had a most unexpectedly helpful conversation with one Norman Laing at the Debt Management & Banking Dept. He provided me with a contact number for their SA Processes (0300 200 3310) and, in the throes of transferring me, we got cut off (can't have it all, I guess!). Called the number and was on hold for over 25 minutes ... 'lift muzak' and the irritating 'one of our people will be with you soon' lies. Eventually spoke to a person called Jed (no surname offered in complete contrast to the lovely Norman!) who proceeded to deal with my issue in a very efficent (nearly fell of my chair) manner. Perhaps HMRC are starting to improve their customer relation abilities? We can but live in hope.
ReplyDeleteWhat has happened to the public service: 25 minute wait on the telephone to be answered! I can remember my grade 7 chastising our telephone operators if inward calls were not answered within sixty seconds and not put through to a human within a couple of minutes. Post is no better since one of my old "work mates" had a reply to a letter he sent to HMRC after a wait of five months. It all seems typical of the "modern" UK where administration is falling apart at the seams.
Delete25 mins is very good, expect 45 mins, or to get cut off!
ReplyDeleteI received an unpaid tax bill for the large amount of £3.60 yes £3.60 in March 2015 ,i duly sent a cheque, it was cashed 3 days later i have just received another unpaid tax bill for the same amount saying they have not received the £3.60 , i tried to ring the office waste of time no answer, i live near Bradford so i thought i'd pay them a vist googled the post code of BD98 1YY GUESS WHAT its in Skipton in the middle of a forrest. They will have to come knocking at my door if they wish to contact me again.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they will write it off like the late return filers ffs.....we are becoming a bigger joke by the day.
DeleteThe reason they spout for not penalising late filers because we have a Everest sized mountain of post....and due to the fact that they have cut 40k staff...surprise surprise...there's not enough people to deal with it....fukin assholes !!!
If you go on HMRC site, they tell you to use the BX postcode, without a town. However, if you want to send recorded delivery, rather than wasting time on hold to them, I'm guessing the easiest thing to do is to follow the link below, and use the address they provide for couriers. (Who knows whether what used to be known as the Royal Mail use their own drivers to deliver, or if this service is subcontracted to couriers these days?)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/couriers
Currently this shows on their site as: HM Revenue and Customs
Benton Park View Newcastle Upon Tyne NE98 1ZZ United Kingdom.
Unless someone knows better?
Yeah it will get there like that, but will cause more of a delay in the post being worked, the BX post code make sure that it gets delivered directly to the people who scan the post. Your way it arrives in Newcastle and then has to be forwarded to the mail scanning people from there. My advice as a post room employee is post your item to the BX post code, as requested, and don't waste your money on paying for recorded post, all that does is slow things down even more. Having proof it was delivered to an office in Newcastle does not help when the post is being scanned in a different location and then replied to from a third location.
ReplyDeleteI had a prob with HMRC - they insisted I'd had NI contribs refunded totaling over £4k spread over a no of years, 1 of which I was self empd & I had not given myself a rebate. Of the others I have pay slips. Phoning them emailing them got nowhere -in the words of 1 call cent op 'nobody is taking responsibility' - so he gave me an address - the person, the team, the room no, the floor, the building & then the street address.
ReplyDeleteGuess what - nothing happened. I've now written to the enigmatic BX address, and a month later, you guessed it - still nothing.
@ Penny Less, I can have a good guess a why.
ReplyDeleteHMRC announced that they were going to start scanning all incoming post so they closed all the Regional Post Rooms (including Shipley which has the mysterious BX5 postcode).
What they didnt tell Shipley was that Shipley would become the postroom for the whole of HMRC until the digitalisation programme was complete.
And therein lies the problem, Shipley is running on a skeleton staff and are struggling to cope with the volumes of post coming in and there are delays in distributing post to the network.
I dont blame the staff, they are doing their best - its EXCOM I blame.
So Penny Less, I would hazard a guess that they have got your letter, but its not been redirected yet.
I see Linda (call me Lin) Homer CEO of HMRC is being 'damed' in this years 'honours'list.
ReplyDeleteSay it isn't true....how could Ken have missed such an announcement ? ;))
DeleteFuck me, finger on the pulse, or what?
DeleteAre you on ExCom?
Too ironically clever for EXCOM
DeleteHi People
ReplyDeleteJust Googled Post Code BX5 5AB & come up with this site.
I`ve received a tax demand for £1462.08 from International Debt Unit (G.McLean). I live in Spain & now file tax returns here as I have residencia. There is no return envelope & the post mark is "MALTA PLC". There is no explanation as to how this was calculated just "according to our records you have not paid....etc". I logged in to my self assessment account on HMRC which states "you have nothing to pay"
Im wondering if this is some elaborate scam! any thoughts?
Just don't reply.......
DeleteHi - I received a similar letter from same person & team. Was for 1317.21 GBP - I now live in NZ and have not been in the UK for almost 4 years. Did you have any luck contacting HMRC?
DeleteHi, I have received the same letter and amount quite similar. I live in Spain now too. Were you able to contact them? Was it an scam? I thought the same
DeleteIf you informed HMRC that you no longer needed to be in self assessment, then your account would be closed and you would not be able to log in. The fact that you can log into it shows that you still have a live SA account so should have been filing tax returns every year. If you have no liabilities at all in the UK, no property let out, or anything else, then you need to close it. There is an SA criteria questionnaire on the HMRC.GOV.UK website where you can check. Perhaps the debt is fines for none compliance, late filing etc. If the debt is from SA, either from tax owed, or unpaid fines, it will have your 10 digit unique tax payer reference on the bill. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeletetoday's run-in with BX5 5AB - lady came to office to collect PAYE i paid 3 years ago ... i called the debt management office 0300 200 3000. spoke to a friendly but rather slow woman. told her my tales of trying to write to BX5 5AB in the past .... no record of letters arriving, post office and DPD don't recognize the post code etc. she said it is not a post code but a PO BOX NUMBER ... all mail is centrally scanned onto our files ... so she is confident that if i send my reconciliation sheets in (again ...) she will get them; of course they have to be posted as there is no external email; i could fax them? no, i haven't had a fax machine for five years thank you as no one uses fax any more (apart that is from HMRC it seems!). Still, there is progress ....for after some prompting she admitted to being in an office in Cardiff. (i had guessed from accent!) but for all i know the next time i call i could get someone in Shipley or Newcastle or Bradford or anywhere? in my view it is poor customer relations to maintain this bizarre secrecy. HMRC should put a town in the address and be done with it!
ReplyDeleteI too have attempted to write to HMRC at this address, and twice my letter has been immediately returned by Royal Mail unopened. The Gov.UK website states categorically that this is the correct postal address; shame no-one thought to tell the Post Office. I'm pleased I came across this forum though, at least it answers why my letter is being returned. I cannot believe this has been an ongoing problem for over six years; it is farcical.
ReplyDeleteI have just received a letter from HMRC demanding payment of 20 pence!! because they are unable to code out an underpayment as requested, and has happened in previous years. They say I do not have any income which is taxed under PAYE. The previous year taxable income was well over £20k and my circumstances have not changed. Unbelievable that with such a poor reputation they allocate resources to such a trivial amount, and then get it completely wrong. Maybe I should change my name to Starbucks. I am writing to one of the infamous BX post codes, so don't hold out much hope of a sensible response.
ReplyDeleteYou may find it unbelievable, but those of with experience dealing with the bunch of incompetents aka HMRC would say this is all perfectly normal (for them).
DeleteI've complained to them before, it never got resolved as they just don't do 'sensible' responses.
I live in Spain and hot a demand for underpayment of tax for 2016. I tang the number supplied and got a recorded message to say payment must be paid by cheque postal order or bank draft to BX postcode. Payment cannot be maid on line or cannot be taken over the phone. I duly wrote a cheque once I found my cheque book. Addressed envelope and went to my local Spanish post Office. Guess what? Cannot be sent as no Town or city included in address. I put BRADFORD IN BRACKETS and sent recorded delivery. Will keep an eye on my bank account
DeleteThe BX post codes are Non-Geographic and are used for routing post rather than navigation...
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcodes_in_the_United_Kingdom#Non-geographic_codes
i too have a letter from a R Harding,Time to Pay,HMRC,DMB 440,BX5 5AB.It is regarding an overpayment which was badly managed but we are in an arrangement.We have not missed any payment but R Harding has jumped the gun.The date on the letter is the day after the payment went through.After reading this forum I realise what a shambles HMRC is.This BX5 5AB thing should be resolved never mind BREXIT.All these problems in the UK system are left hanging, never resolved and it never appears on the 24 rolling news.You have all these watchdogs and Ombudsman that do not want to do anything.Pathetic.
ReplyDeletei had an arrangement for some income tax due, when i sent the final cheque b4 an agreed review date they 'didn't receive it' despite it being posted 2 weeks prior.A month later found out they had returned it to my bank for no reason.i asked why they did that, after speking with a rude lady i was told they would get back to me. they never did.i think some malicious hmrc employee was trying to make it look like i had failed to keep to agreement so they could threatened to send their powerless debt 'collectors' round. i would have believe a public service in Britain would get away with vindictive stunts.
DeleteI'm really confused- I have been trying to find the town and just verify that I heard the postcode correctly. I wrote down what I heard as BX39 1AG! I am in Russia and can not afford to call and wait 20 minutes for someone to answer! Didn't anticipate all this crap!!!
ReplyDeletePostcode to use is BX5 5AT
ReplyDeleteHope his helps and saves you money
Or why not set up a Personal Tax Account and message securely.
@ 12:26 BX5 5AT is/was a VAT address:
ReplyDeleteTo Stublu this is the address details taken from the GOV.UK website:
Write to HMRC at this address for all Income Tax queries except complaints.
You don’t need to include a street name, city name or PO box when writing to this address.
Couriers should use a different address.
Pay As You Earn and Self Assessment
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AS
United Kingdom
As per your previous reply, making a Personal Tax Account would be a good idea. Do this at GOV.UK Home > Money and tax > Dealing with HMRC > Personal tax account
Having ditched the franking machine we now buy postage online (click & drop), but the 'BX5' etc post code is not recognised, nor does it allow for 'no post town/city'. Likewise the form demands a 'first line of address'.
ReplyDeleteSo make it up - first line 'Class 1a fine dept.' in town 'Uknown'.
I have sent 2 cheques for very large amounts to BX5 5BD Just found out that does not exist. Sent my cheques 8 days ago by Tracked mail still has not been delivered Wondering whether to stop the cheques
ReplyDelete