Wednesday 27 October 2010

Question

Question
The deadline for paper based tax returns for tax year end 2010 is midnight 31 October, taxpayers who fail to meet this deadline face an automatic £100 fine.

Given the backlog of several weeks of unopened post within HMRC, how does HMRC know whether those paper tax returns sent in the weeks/days running up to the deadline were received before/after the 31 October deadline?

Tax does have to be taxing.

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12 comments:

  1. Maybe they stamp the envelopes as they come in.

    Thats what I do with their letters. Then I ignore them for three months.

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  2. http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/Forms-too-taxing-for-late.6599020.jp

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  3. I'm guessing they can request the fine anyway. There will be a percentage who just pay it, some who ignore it and some who contest it.

    So they dont need to know if tax returns are late or not. They can just ask everyone to pay a fine and if it 'comes on top' - claim it was a mistake as usual.

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  4. The post is date stamped when its received in the remaining post rooms ie if it arrives at Shipley RPR they will stamp it on date of receipt so when it gets to relevant office dealing with it they use this date as being recived, if posted it will also have the post mark on it and if it is handed to enquiry centre it is date stamped in front of the customer.

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  5. Agree with above.

    I think the envelopes are stamped "HMRC Received 30/10/2010" or whatever, the morning it comes in.

    Doesnt mean its gonna be actioned though, he he he
    :)

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  6. DATESTAMPS DUMMY

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  7. Chances are HMRC will lose the return anyway... they seem to lose just about every damn thing you send 'em!!!

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  8. HMRC are months behind with normal post, they haven't enough staff to answer the phones, millions of wrong PAYE end-of-year reconciliations have to be sorted, crap IT systems, staff morale is rock-bottom, the managers have the staff filling out reams of pointless spreadsheets and they are about to be buried in a sea of tax returns. Chaos and mismanagement rule!!! Worry not though folks, it could be a lot worse, and very probably will be, once the next round of office closures and 15% staff cuts are implemented.

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  9. Its bad now, wait until the 33% admin. cut comes in and 15,000 are told to piss off.

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  10. Returns are logged on the day of reciept. If people sent them in on time... they wouldn't get the automatic penalties... pathetic excuses like postal delays don't remove the penalties.

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  11. "Returns are logged on the day of reciept. If people sent them in on time... they wouldn't get the automatic penalties... pathetic excuses like postal delays don't remove the penalties."

    I do hope you do not find yourself out off the door as part of the cutbacks. You would be a real bundle of joy to work along side.

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  12. "Returns are logged on the day of reciept. If people sent them in on time... they wouldn't get the automatic penalties... pathetic excuses like postal delays don't remove the penalties."

    I do hope you do not find yourself out off the door as part of the cutbacks. You would be a real bundle of joy to work along side.


    Although not the original poster of this message, I agree with the sentiment. Some people still claim ridiculous things like 'the postal strike delayed my internet-filed return' or several other badly thought out reasons for not submitting a return on time.

    ReplyDelete