From the BBC:"In these straitened times, governments everywhere are doing their best to downplay the effects of the recession.
But not HM Revenue and Customs.
Employers are being asked to double the size of P45 forms, given to staff leaving their service. The old A5-sized forms are being replaced with an A4 version.
An HMRC directive reads:
'It is... important to remember that employees may not recognise the new forms. All they need is reassurance that the form P45 has changed in appearance and now includes their date of birth and gender.'
Yes, that's all the reassurance anyone could ever need."
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"
Oh thank god! I've been wondering what my date of birth and gender are for years. All I have to do now is secure employment in the more usual manner and then leave. I do hope that the HMRC details on file are correct. I'd hate to turn out to have been a woman or fifty years older than I thought I was...
ReplyDeleteI ran out of the old forms, so ordered some new ones from HMRC, blissfully unaware that the format had changed. At the same time I ordered P60 forms for the year end. The new P45 forms arrived in a parcel 8 inches thick, but no P60s were found, despite being shown on the delivery note. The new computer P45s do not line up correctly with my software, so I have to spend time getting that right. Well done HMRC for providing me with the extra work, I was wondering what to do with my time. I can see that the change has immeasurably improved the usefulness of the P45 to everybody, and no doubt it did not cost much to change the form either.
ReplyDeleteActually, sex and date of birth are rather useful for successfully tracking our 'customers'.
ReplyDeleteThat said, we've been doing a not too bad job without them.
Tree killers
ReplyDeleteDo you know, I thought that the NI number was enough to trace taxpayers, and many have a UTR too...
ReplyDeleteAs for 'successfully tracking' your 'customers', methinks that just about sums up HMRC's attitude towards taxpayers. Maybe we should all wear tags.
Please stop calling us customers.
A persons UTR is for themselves (their agent) and HMRC alone...it's nowhere near a P45 as it comes under the same restrictions as...your date of birth, employment history, pay and tax details...wait a minuite...
ReplyDeleteAs for tracking...well as a HMRC employee...there is a LOAD of people coming into the country and not getting NINO's off the DWP...and so have anywhere up to about 5-10 different records all saying the same things, and possibly giving however many refunds when they scuttle home again.
As for who didnt know about the change in forms...try reading your employers packs and updates instead of binning them next time?