Wednesday 8 December 2010

Emulating The Banks

WTF

The Mail is venting is spleen against HMRC over the claims being sent out by HMRC for tax underpayments (estimated to affect 1.4 million people).

Whilst it is perfectly correct that HMRC reclaims underpaid tax, the issue that wrankles with the Mail is HMRC's response to appeals sent in by many on the basis of the A19 tax concession (which allows claims for underpaid tax to be abandoned under certain circumstances).

HMRC are sending out standardised computer generated rejections of appeals from one centre, stating simply that the appeal does not fall within the A19 concession.

This is a similar approach taken by banks and other financial institutions when rejecting people's claims for excess overdraft charges, mis-sold endowments etc; one that is designed to stone wall claims.

HMRC have belatedly realised that, whilst this approach may be OK for tax professionals (who can fight their corner), doing this to a large number of people who normally do not interact on a daily basis with HMRC (but who make excellent copy - eg widowed pensioners - for tabloids) is very unwise. As such the content and format of the letters is now being reviewed, and a more "personalised" rejection will be sent in the future.

Whatever the format of the rejection, the taxpayer can still appeal and if rejected again can go to the Adjudicator's Office.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

What is TAXWISE?

TAXWISE is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Taxwise

Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

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"

3 comments:

  1. It shows how well informed The Mail is. "Normally, when someone has a complaint over their tax bill they must contact their own tax office. But in this case, we have learnt that all complaints about demands for underpayment are being dealt with by one centre for calls and one for letters."

    I guess they haven't been paying attention for the last few years.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wasn't there a bit in the DPA that said something along the line of "data must not be used for the purposes of automated decision making"?

    ReplyDelete
  3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/the_guide/principle_6/automated_decision_taking.aspx

    I expect HMRC are exempt the bit at the bottom of the page. If they are not I am sure they ignore it anyway.

    ReplyDelete