The Hotline

As noted earlier on this site, today is D Day for tax credit claimants to confirm the details of their income for 2007-08. Failure to do so by this deadline will result in their tax credits being cancelled, and overpayments reclaimed.

Now, as is human nature, people leave things to the last minute (entirely predictable) and are calling the HMRC "hotline" to confirm their details in a last minute rush.

All well and good, except for one small problem...they can't get through!

Poor old HMRC, despite knowing full well that the run up to deadlines always produces a spike in calls, just couldn't get its act together to run an efficient and useful hotline service.

Rather similar, I think, to the online filing debacle when the HMRC system crashed because of a "massive" spike of 6,000 (yes, 6,000) hits in one day!

HMRC insist that the hotline is still working, and anyone having trouble phoning in their claim should keep on trying.

I guess it didn't help that HMRC had not planned ahead for the holiday season, as evidenced by their derisory offer of £100 (what does that buy you these days?) to staff to forgo their holidays to man their tax credit desks.

All in all pretty pathetic!

As I have said before, all this time trouble and expense can be eliminated at the stroke of a pen by abolishing tax credits and increasing personal allowances to around £10K-£12K.

That of course will never happen, as long as we have our "popular" Prime Minister in orifice.

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"

A Series of Fuck Ups

Accounting Web published this summary of recent fuck ups by HMRC, as witnessed front line by real people trying to work with the mess that is HMRC.

Here is the piece in full:

"VAT – part of the overhaul?

Gavin reports that after HMRC updated the online vat registration yesterday it decided to wipe any un-submitted application as of 22/7/2008. This was confirmed by helpline staff he called this morning.

He says that he "was a bit disappointed as I will have to enter all the data again. There was no warning on the log in screen to the system so I am not sure how I was supposed to know this was happening."

Tax refunds – new system, new delays?

Following HMRC's recent announcement that no tax refunds would be paid unless full bank details are included on the SA return, accountants might have expected that the refund would be forthcoming if all the details were complete. Not so it seems...

Lee reports that if you submit a client's 2007/2008 Tax Return online that shows a refund and the taxpayer is dealt with by the Chapel Wharf Expat team, the tax refund will not automatically be paid to the client's bank account. Apparently a new policy in place for 2007/2008 means that staff are instructed to manually check/issue the tax refund into the clients bank account.

He says that having submitted a client's Tax Return online on 21 July 2008, he questioned how long his client would have to wait and was informed that they are currently up to the end of June submissions. There is already a three week delay and we have not got to the busiest time of the year!

One team member indicated this morning that agents could write to HMRC to complain and gave an address in Bristol (The Repayment Security Team, AASNIU, HMRC, 101 Victoria Street, Bristol, BS1 6BG).

Says Lee: "This quite appalling state of affairs. Agents have not been told and we have angry clients whose money is being loaned to the Chancellor."

Agent authorisation, again

Peter wrote into Any Answers pointing out a range of problems, including

The database the Tax Office uses is different to the database the Online Agent Authorisation system uses.

The letter sent to my clients which has the code doesn't get posted until after HMRC send me a letter warning me that the code is about to expire. HMRC leave post in warehouses for three weeks before sending letters.

When I complained about this to HMRC they said the system works because the client gets the code before it expires! I pointed out to them that their concept of working is different to mine. I have been unable to effectively act for my clients while HMRC leave the letters in a warehouse.

He adds: Does anyone know why HMRC spell Middlesbrough incorrectly on the website? I was told they would correct it about four years ago but it is still wrong.

IT gremlins again: Self Assessment records mixed up

Earlier in the year agents details were mixed up, latest reports indicate that it might be prudent to double check your client SA records. Various members report names and addresses being mixed up.

****

The National Audit Office, in its latest report on HMRC's transformation programme remains remarkably upbeat with HMRC's IT performance.

Accountingweb's IT editor John Stokdyk finds this perplexing: He writes, "Taken at face value, the NAO report makes little allowance for the risks posed to the transformation programme by the stresses and strains already facing the department's current IT systems and change managers."..."

Bottom line, HMRC is in a farking mess!

Given that the above problems are being experienced by trained accounting professionals, one can only wonder at the problems being experienced by non accountants who don't know/understand the rules or the way round the "system".

Our "beloved" Prime Minister, who cobbled together the Revenue and Customs into the monstrosity known as HMRC is personally responsible for this. The only way out of this mess is for him to be removed from orifice ASAP, and for a complete restructuring (not Brown's badly thought through restructuring) or indeed demerger of HMRC.

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"

The Bullys From HMRC

Yesterday one of the visitors to this site posted the following comment on two of my recent articles:

"I work for HMRC in one of their contact centres so would like to clear up a little myth surrounding overpayments relating to Tax Credits, if I may. The overpayments that are constantly mentioned are as a direct result of taxpayers not notifying HMRC of their change of circumstances, not an error by HMRC.

If a taxpayer does not inform the HMRC that they have had a pay rise or that the costs of their childcare has decreased or stopped altogether, how the hell are we meant to know?

Every single person who receives Tax Credits is sent a notice instructing them to notify HMRC if certain circumstances change.

If the claimant fails to do so, it is not HMRC's fault that they have been overpaid."

I have to say I have a degree of sympathy for the HMRC staff who have to endure the "stupidity" of the general public, many of the public don't fill in the forms on time/correctly or understand even the rudimentary basics of the tax system.

However, let us not forget that were it not for the monumental arrogance and love of complexity that Brown has for all things we would never have had this monumentally complicated and unwieldy tax credit system foisted on us in the first place.

It is this system that, aside from humiliating people by making them "beg" for state handouts, has forced a whole tranche of people into direct bureaucratic contact with HMRC who have no clue about form filling or basic bureaucratic administration.

This problem (bureaucratic, cost and dignity) could be resolved at the stroke of a pen, by simply abolishing tax credits and increasing personal allowances to a more sensible level of around £10K-£12K.

Unfortunately, as long as Brown is PM, this is not going to happen. The tax credit system is a monument to his arrogance and disdain for ordinary people.

That being said there is another problem with tax credits, namely HMRC's administration of them.

Confidential tapes and internal documents have exposed bullying and bungling in the tax credit scheme that will cost us £2.8BN.

Over 1.5M people have been told that they were overpaid tax credits and should now give back the money. HMRC have spread the lie that it was their own fault (funny how the comment I referred to above was posted twice, just at the same time that this story has come to light!) and informed some victims they had no right of appeal.

The reality you see is somewhat different, using evidence from HMRC's own case files victims of HMRC bullying have proven that HMRC errors are to blame.

It would seem that HMRC offices are in disarray, random errors are infecting claimants' computer files, and HMRC officials are lying to claimants about their right of appeal.

The cost of this shambles is £2.8BN, which HMRC will write off; why not, it's only our money?

Amongst the screw ups uncovered are the following:

• HMRC computer routinely wiped out claimants' salaries, thus triggering overpayments.



• Duplicate rogue files caused errors and sent out multiple awards.



• Victims were sent letters claiming they had "no right of appeal" when they were pursued for overpayments caused by official error.

The tax credit system, that Brown claims is meant to lift people out of poverty does nothing of the sort. It is designed to subjugate people, and make them dependent on the state.

It is an abomination!

It must be abolished now!

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"

We're All Going on a Summer Holiday - Not!

Whilst our "respected" MPs take a "well earned" summer break of several months, spare a thought for those working in HMRC who had hoped to be able to a take fortnight or so off this summer.

It would seem that, because of the massive amount of work generated by the current tax credit TV campaign, staff at HMRC centres across the country are overwhelmed and are being asked/paid to not take a summer break.

July is the deadline for tax credit renewals, as the current TV campaign has drummed into the heads of all of those hapless individuals who are forced to become involved with the tax credits system.

The backlog of claims is now so great, that HMRC "managers" are offering the 5000 HMRC employees involved with tax credits £100 to not take a summer break. I can't see that £100 would persuade many to give up their summer holiday.

Management claim that they need just 100 staff to give up their holiday's. However, staff say that the situation has been caused by the job cuts and that it will simply get worse.

Peter Lockhart, of the civil service union PCS, is quoted in the Express:

"This is a symptom of a lack of staff and highlights the madness of continuing with a programme of cuts."

An HMRC spokesman said:

"Demand for our phone service is higher than usual due to the successful marketing campaign. In order to meet this increased demand we have offered a £100 incentive to some staff to defer their leave."

This of course, if the media campaign had been properly planned, could have been predicted. As such, a well run organisation would have ensured that they had sufficient staff on hand during the holiday season to meet demand.

This of course is not a well run organisation, this is HMRC!

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"

Morale At Low Ebb - No Surprises There Then

The National Audit Office (NAO) report the unsurprising fact that staff morale at HMRC is at "a low ebb", because of ongoing change programmes.

HMRC will spend £2.7BN over the next three years to provide a more efficient, customer focused organisation. The NAO report that 18 months into the programme, HMRC had spent £851M, and achieved estimated benefits of £2.4BN.

However, it warned:

"In any change programme, staff satisfaction might be expected to decline and recent surveys indicate morale remains at a low ebb.

The department needs to more actively demonstrate the benefits to its staff and manage the expectations of customers as many of the improvements for them are scheduled for 2011 and beyond."

NAO chief Tim Burr said:

"This is an ambitious programme of change with the potential to provide significant benefits in terms of tax yield and improvements for the department's customers.

To succeed, the department must determine what it expects the programme to achieve with the resources available."

Sounds to me rather like shutting the stable door after the horse as bolted, as the objectives of the programme should have been identified before initiating it.

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"

The Sweet Smell of Bullshit - Hardware Fault

Those of you who got stuck in the IT "snafu" with HMRC's online filing system, when trying to file your tax returns online on 31 January this year, may be interested to know what the cause of the systems crash was.

Contrary to earlier stories spread by Dave Hartnett that the crash was down to hacking and other nefarious issues, the real cause is far more mundane.

It was a hardware fault that caused 15,000 people to be unable to file their tax returns.

Quite what the nature of the hardware fault was remains a mystery, as HMRC has not disclosed the exact nature of the fault.

Which is rather odd really, given the fact that they work for us. Don't the taxpayers have the right to know what the problem is, given that we are paying for this "service"?

Is "service" a wee bit of an exagerration?

Tim Burr, National Audit Office Comptroller wrote in his report on HMRC's 2007 to 2008 accounts:

"The department secured assurances from its supplier that the online service could be supported at the expected volumes at the peak period.

However, on the day the hardware problem meant that the level of customer attempts to use the online service could not be supported."

Capgemini supplies IT to HMRC under the "popular" with HMRC's staff Aspire contract, which allegedly aims to overhaul technology and reduce running costs.

HMRC and Capgemini are quoted in Computerworld UK:

"The technical issues were caused by a hardware problem which was triggered by a spike in logins. Our systems had been thoroughly capacity tested but this hardware problem meant that we did not manage the January 31 peak as well as we would have liked."

Bollocks!

The "spike" was puny in terms of professional well run IT systems. Had they really tested it properly, and designed it well, this would not have happened.

Complete Bullshit!

The hardware was replaced in February.

Why did "nearly man" Hartnett tell the world that the crash was down to hackers, given that the real reason must have been known at the time?

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"