As loyal readers know, communicating with HMRC is not always that easy. The call centres are inundated with calls and are having trouble handling them all (oh, by the way, until HMRC allow staff to take ownership of a specific enquiry/problem this situation is never going to improve).
Anyhoo, as you may recall last week I wrote about Danielle Stewart a partner in Baker Tilly who said the following about HMRC's postal delays:
"so much better over recent years......their standard of response nowadays is so fast you can't believe it compared to what it used to be.
You could wait months for a reply.
Now you'll be surprised if you wait a week."No one was particularly impressed with her bizarre interpretation of the reality of communicating with HMRC (one loyal reader even suggested that she may be after an OBE or something).
Today I received, from another loyal reader, a damning indictment of the reality of trying to communicate with HMRC (by phone and by post):
"We started up in business 18 months ago when at the ages of 57 and 59 we had no opportunity for employment, so this is our first return, we have been fined £100 each for failing to submit a partnership for SA800 (they sent it to our old address so we knew nothing of it). Our normal forms went in on time.
We have since been inundated with letters from HMRC Cardiff and Newcastle wanting the SA800 which has been submitted. I receive a letter every week from them, but when you eventually get onto the help line are told that it takes 4 weeks for them to reply to your letters. I have now sent 6 letters (some of which are registered or have proof of posting) so god knows when I will get a reply.
Sunderland is wanting payment of the fine which I paid in the hope of getting a refund. I have had 3 letters from them, and replied to each but still they are threatening to send in the bailiffs.
I am not going to be working for myself again, I cannot go through this performance again. There is no wonder this country is in such a mess, a company run like this would have gone to the wall years ago!"Any comments Danielle?
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"
"a company run like this would have gone to the wall years ago" Exactly - and yet HMRC continue to call themselves a "business". Where can I see their articles and accounts? How much tax does HMRC pay on their business income?
ReplyDeleteWhat business income ? They call themselves a business because they are uncomfortable with the idea of being a PUBLIC SERVICE. As a PUBLIC SERVANT I find this a little baffling. Still, HMRC is now run by quangocrats ( Pavitt, Homer, Banner et al ) who are neither public servants or business people. They have no stake in HMRC suceeding, failure ( Birmingham City Council, UKBA - ring any bells, Mrs Homer ?)will result in another top,revolving door appointment. Can you actually see a sane,sensible business leader accepting the poisoned chalice that is HMRC ?
ReplyDeleteStill, and all, lots of committed,dedicated public servants do actually exist. And are now seeing, in the sneering,snarling contempt of the Mail, the ConDems,and a worryingly large section of the public, exactly how much their dedication is appreciated.
And you lot actually expect things to get better? Fuck the lot of you. You've had most of the best years of my life. Now treading water, and putting myself out for NOBODY, for the next 4 years.
Homer has just published HMRC's "Vision" for the next 3 years.
ReplyDelete25% "efficiency" savings between now and 2015.
++++++++1 to eveything the poster above wrote. Perhaps we'll see a 25% reduction at Excom, SCS eh! Another 3 years of continual reorganisations,muddle,lies and nest feathering from the top.
And at the end of it all - worse service than 10 years ago. Enjoy, suckers.
I had that once, sent me a letter I never received for a partnership and was then fined for not replying to it.
ReplyDeleteI did point out that I had paid my taxes for the last X years and did that not give a clue that perhaps I did not receive it, as I managed to get the other paperwork to them on time, besides just because you posted it does not mean I received it but, they said they considered that once posted it was in my hands an so my responsibility. £100 for that, made me see tax in a different light after that.
My sympathies to your loyal reader Ken!
ReplyDeleteUp to about 5-6 years ago, if your loyal reader had provided the information shown; in a single phone call would have taken probably about a week in all to sort out & finalise, by letter about 15 days.
Now they simply don't have the "resource"
Lies, blunders and incompetence are common place and increasing in frequency daily.
ReplyDeleteBut dont blame the coalface staff(they put up with enough shite) it is 100% down to the revolving door fly by night fuckwits at the top who are only there to grab as much as they can before they get the boot and disappear into the ether.
They also seem obsessed with giving and recieving nonsense awards to themselves - so in this olympic year i would like to be the first to nominate excom for the prestigious award of " not knowing your arse from your elbow award"
I cant see anybody beating them not since the sad demise of Mr Brittass.s empire has anything even come close to their graph inspired bullshit.
On the subject of bullshit,,
Deletehttp://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-has-hmrc-been-spared-from-the-cuts/10314
So in this olympic year i would like to be the first to nominate excom for the prestigious award of " not knowing your arse from your elbow award
ReplyDeleteMay i nominate a certain CIO as "head shoved so far up his own arse award" he would be an almost certainty as Usane Bolt would be winning the 100m at the London Olympics.
Danielle Stewart is too wise to answer this. Elsewhere in the interview she asks not to be dragged into the politics of a question. B*****ks! Anyone who is a member of the "Red Tape Panel" is a political animal. How else do you get to serve on these committees? Nobody has ever asked me!
ReplyDeleteMy father was in the army for thirty years. OBEs were and presumably still are "Other Buggers' Efforts".
Banana Republics do what the hell they like.
ReplyDelete