From the Bournemouth Echo:
"A PENSIONER was shocked to receive a cheque for more than £1.5 million when she applied for a £33 tax rebate.
Elizabeth Jenkins, 86, from Bournemouth, told a national Sunday newspaper she phoned HM Revenue and Customs after spotting they had taken £33 from her account incorrectly.
They promised a refund, but when, six months later, she had still not received it, she called again to chase up the matter.
Elizabeth was told that a cheque had been sent – and cashed – but records showed it had been sent to the wrong person at the wrong address.
Officials promised to send another cheque, but the widowed mum-of-two was left stunned when it eventually arrived on her doormat – because it was made out for £1,511,533.80.
Retired civil servant Elizabeth hasn't cashed it, but said she was still waiting for the right amount.
She said: 'I'm sure that if the roles were reversed and I had owed them money for over a year I'd probably be in jail now.
They would hound me and hound me until I paid it back. So I’m going to hound them.'
An HMRC spokesman said: 'We handle huge numbers of tax repayments and unfortunately things sometimes go wrong.
When they do we apologise and sort things out as quickly as possible.' "
Tax does have to be taxing.
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So HMRC accidentally take £33 from someone’s account and take six months to pay it back.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was called 'Theft' and was a police matter.
If I were she, I would get the cheque in the bank in case they try and recover the money from her through her bank.
And as for apologising, I made a written complaint aver a month ago and they have not even bothered responding.
Personally I'd cash it and get the interest (what is the daily interest on 1.5 mil?), and then pay it back when they ask for (if they ever do).
ReplyDeleteI too wrote to them a month ago and have had no reply, so don't feel singled out...
As the government is broke the cheque would most likely bounce due to lack of sufficient funds.
ReplyDeleteCash it, take the family on a round the World Cruise and let them whistle for it. Their theft of your £33 is a far more blatant crime. Anyway it would not even pay the Board's salary for six months - bunch of wasters.
ReplyDeleteThis is the sort or thing that shows HMRC they can get away with anything. Rather than waiting six months the lady should have reported the theft to the police.
ReplyDeleteHow would HMRC "accidently" take £33 from someones bank account?
ReplyDeleteAn HMRC spokesman said: 'We handle huge numbers of tax repayments and unfortunately things sometimes go wrong.
ReplyDeletesometimes? Most of time lately!
Phone the Police immediately.
ReplyDeleteIf you owed them money they would have the law unto you very quickly.
When tax credits are overpaid we (HMRC advisors) tell the taxpayer to cash the cheque in a high interest account until we ask for it back. I would do that in this case!!
ReplyDelete@anon 19:27 Exactly, how can HMRC take money from someone's account? Seems like yet another Freddie Starr ate my Hamster story.
ReplyDeleteSome people around here seem to find it strange that HMRC would/could take money out of an account by mistake.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen HMRC's track record for mistakes?
Some people around here seem to find it strange that HMRC would/could take money out of an account by mistake.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen HMRC's track record for mistakes?
The only way that they could do that is through a reverse BACS transaction.
That said banks are extremely enthusiastic about protecting money they think is theirs nowadays and would demand to know why HMRC was taking money out in such large sums from someone.