HMRC post turnaround times – are they improving?

Appeal P35 Penalty to Cambridshire Area - Sent 10 Feb - response came 30 March

Letter re SA sent to Centre 1 on 31 Jan dealt with on 14 March (per HMRC computer) but I did not get reponse until 1 April in post. (I did wonder if backdated?)

Wrote to Centre1 on 22 February. Letter was drawing attention to the fact that loss claims not processed and thus no repayments processed. A reply was dated 30 March which merely says that "We hope to reply shortly". Nothing further received.

Phoned call centre in March chasing 2009/2010 SA repayment that had not been issued.

Was advised that agent details not held on record.

Client signed another 64-8 and this was submitted to CAAT on 1 April 2011.

Phoned call centre again today & was advised that agent record still not recorded.

Was advised that CAAT in Newcastle were taking 22 days to action submitted 64-8 forms

In a professional capacity - letter of 6th October 2010 seeking clearance to strike off a (now dormant) company. Letter still not answered (despite two chasing letters). In a personal capacity - letter of 20th February 2011 seeking to have a persistently incorrect tax code corrected. Letter still not answered (and was itself in follow up to a phone call of late January that was never returned).

I don't believe them any more.  I think a previous reply has said it all about back-dating.

Sch E Tax Calculation dated 4 February received by me on 2 March, the same day as client received her copy.   In another case, Notice of Penalty Determination dated 24 January received 26 February - so much for 30 day period for appeal.  Many more examples where there is at least 15 days between date of HMRC correspondence and receipt, and I don't blame Royal Mail.

By the way, the Penalty Notice was for non-submission of a P35 for 2009/10 which HMRC had acknowledged was not required and had confirmed that clients records had been updated in the previous June. 

Letter to Rev/Customs 14 December 2010 re P800T tax calculations (following wrong pensions codings) pointing out that personal allowances given to client were incorrect. Chaser sent 22 March 2011. No response at all to date. 64-8 ( a second one ..) was sent with original letter, but not activated.Probably still in some-one's in-tray.

Income tax claims forms R40 and R27 for a deceased taxpayer submitted 28 January 2011 complete with all required evidence.

Rejected for spurious reasons and returned by HMRC on 21 February; resubmitted 1 March 2011.

Reminder sent 14 April 2011.

Still no answer and no refunds!

 

I sent a letter to HMRC in Newcastle in mid March and I was informed a week again that it would be looked at the by 5th May assuming they received it! That I have yet to find out.

I sent a written complaint to HMRC on the 29th Jan 2011, concerning an incorrect tax assessment. I had previously spoken to an HMRC tax officer and explained how I had made a mistake on my online self assessment,and had entered my pension as a lump sum ,and omitted the tax paid by my provider. I was asked to explain this in writing,which I did. I was told that this “underpayment” would be resolved and that I did not owe any tax. Nevertheless,I began to get a series of demands for up to £1913.50 . When one came in red,threatening referral to their debt collecting agency,with added legal costs and interest ,I contacted the Customer Operations Complaints Service where my original complaint had been sent. I was told that my complaint had not been looked at as of the 8th March ,but that it would be by the 22nd March, and I would be notified then. I was also told that the demand notices were computer generated and should be ignored! I still have not heard from them but have had my tax code reassessed which results in HMRC taking an additional £50 tax per month anyway. I Have tried to complain via the Financial Ombudsman and the Financial Services Agency ,but neither of these have the authority to investigate the HMRC. I was told by the FSA that the only route to challenge HMRC was via parliament, and I hope any input from you might be listened to.

Tax repayment for dec'd client being chased since last December.  Last letter sent to HMRC Edinburgh on 11 March.  Chased twice via agent helpline - informed this morning that a reply was in the system and should arrive in 7-10 days.  Delay therefore around 2 months.

Letter received by client 28 April, but dated 14 April, advising that bailiffs would now be sent in view of failure to pay P.A.Y.E. tax for quarter ended 5 January 2011. The tax had, of course, been paid ..... Phone call to Revenue was like talking to a five-year old.Current Revenue collection tactics make North Korea sound attractive.

 

 

several letters sent to coventry and then cardiff- several chasing letters - only one reply received which did not address any of my queries. They are suggesting that I have not completed a tax return and trying to fine me for it - i did not complete one as they had sent me 2 letters stating not to!!. It is impossible to address anything as no-one bothers to actually answer letters Last letter being sent today - if no reply in 7 days I am going to arrange a face to face visit with the person who replied (ignoring my letter) as this is ridiculous.

HMRC have still not returned my call of 22 January or replied to my letter of 20 February. From my preliminary calculations it looks as if I have a tax overpayment for 2010/11 of circa £600 which I can't seek to recover until I file a tax return, which won't be at least until I get my P11D in July and even then I expect I will have a fight on my hands to get what I am owed because HMRC's (incorrect) records won't agree to my tax return. I also have not yet been issued with a notice of coding for 2011/12 but my employer must have been as my first payslip for this year shows I am currently being underpaid by about £200 per month. I called HMRC on 30th April and was told a code (incorrect) had been put on the system on 31st March but not issued as it needs to be reviewed. I explained what it should be and they took my direct line at work and said someone would call me back. No call received this week so I have just called again. After 11 minutes of choosing from the various options, listening to music and being told via recordings how wonderful HMRC's website is and surely all I need to do is go online to get the information I want, I finally got to speak to an actual person. I was told the matter was referred to the 'processing team' and it takes up to 4 weeks for these referrals to be actioned. I asked them to confirm exactly what date this is and was told 28th May. I have, therefore, requested that they make a formal note on the file to say that if I haven't received a call by 28th May I will write a letter of complaint to the District Inspector (not sure if they have them anymore but it sounded impressive). I might as well start writing my letter of complaint now because there is no chance of them calling me although I don't think for a moment that HMRC will reply to it. Not sure where to go after that. This has been going on for 18 months so there seems no point communicating with HMRC. Perhaps my MP might have more influence!

After my whinge of the 21st April, I contacted my MP. He forwarded my complaint to HMRC requesting a reply within 6 weeks. I received a letter of apology within a week with the promise of a cheque for £30 (in the post) , which suprisingly turned up yesterday. This was followed up by a phone call from another investigating officer who identified several errors in their calculations ,-apologised and is going to send me a detailed letter of explanation. (Can't wait). My MP certainly did it for me ..

Still no reply to my call but I have today finally received a notice of coding for 2011/12 (dated 16th May so it has taken a while to reach me although I note that in the printed area it says that my employer will be using it from 24 May so presumably HMRC knew it would take a while). However, it says I owe £637.24 in respect of a previous tax year (which I don't) and I can't for the life of me work out where they get my savings income adjustment from. I called HMRC to question it. 12 minutes 42 seconds today before I got to speak to anyone and I had to go through the whole story all over again. What I learned is: a) their operative has no way of telling from their computer records where the £637.24 comes from, or even which tax year it relates to b) because when my tax code for 2010/11 was originally sorted out (before HMRC then got it wrong again) it was issued manually half the correspondence is not recorded on the computer system and all their operatives have access to is the incorrect computerised data c) it was not possible for HMRC to refer it to the process team again because it was not yet 4 weeks from the referral on 30 April (although I pointed out that it was much longer than 4 weeks since 22 January) so there is nothing they can do to help d) even if they wanted to help, noone at the call centre has the ability to actually speak to anyone from the process team. Their only route of communication with the process team is via internal email - neither they, not their manager, nor the line manager above that etc etc are able to actually speak to the process team. I told them to make a record of the call and reminded them that when I called before I said that I would be making a formal written complaint if it had not been dealt with by 28th May so they have 5 days remaining. I can guess what I'm going to be doing on Sunday!

I asked for an authorisation code on-line for a client in November last year. It did not come through but I got an warning email that it was about to expire followed by an expiry email. I tried again with the same result. I contacted HMRC but they were only able to take a message to pass onto the CAAT and said they would respond within 3 days. No responce so I phoned again only to be told to try the manula 64-8 route. This I did. 6 weeks later (and now passed the filing date for SAR's) the client had still not appeared on my client list ( I did file SAR as security allows this especially around 31st January). I contacted HMRC and was told that as I had a photo copy of the 64-8 to submit again and put 2nd Reguest on it. 7 weeks later no client on list - phone HMRC and got a very helpful but anoyed HMRC Inspector. He asked me to fax through the 64-8 with 3rd request on it. I had a call 10 minutes later from the same guy saying that client would be on my list within the hour (yes not the usual 24 hours to update) and to contact him again if this was not the case. Client was on list within 15 mins. So they can get things done it just seems you need to find someone at HMRC willing to chase other departments. Delays within HMRC are costing me money which cannot really be charged to HMRC. How about a fining system against HMRC when their delays become unreasonable.

Well, at 11pm on 28th May I think it is safe to say that I won't get a call from HMRC within the next hour so, on that basis I have just finished writing a formal letter of complaint which will be posted tomorrow giving them 30 days to a) apologise and provide a written explanation of how they have managed to make so many errors and what they will be doing to make sure they don't happen again, b) repay the overpayment that they owe to me for 2010/11 (I filed my tax return today and as expected am owed hundreds of pounds) and c) issue a correct tax code for 2011/12. I have warned them that I will be asking my MP to intervene if they haven't complied with these requests within 30 days. Something tells me that I will be writing to my MP for the first time in my life in 30 days from now.

A brief update. HMRC have made a repayment to my bank account for the 2010/2011 overpayment, although I am not sure if that is as a result of investigating my complaint or automatically under the usual pay now check later self assessment system. However, it does mean that they have complied with 1 out of my 3 requests in my letter of complaint so only 2 to go....and they still have 8 days remaining before the deadline I set them in my letter of complaint expires so I guess anything is possible.

Shock Update! I arrived home to find a letter from HMRC. After eagerly tearing open the envelope in anticipation of their response, I found myself a bit disappointed to find only a letter acknowledging my complaint telling me that it would be investigated but that this might take some time and promising to write to me on 13 July (one month from the date of the letter) to let me know how they are progressing. It seems, therefore, they have bought themselves some more time but I will give them the benefit of the doubt....for now.

From the Secretary of the Tax Faculty Employment Taxes & NIC Sub-committee:

Our members have reported receipt of letters a long time after the date shown thereon, for example a letter dated 21 June from HMRC NIC&EO at Newcastle which arrived in a member's office in Fife on 2 July was according to a stamp on the envelope sent via South Midlands Mail Centre on 30 June.  The delay was therefore between HMRC at Newcastle and South Midlands Mail Centre, which is part of Royal Mail.

HMRC has said (by way of feedback from a local WT group (Leeds)) that mail delays are down to Royal Mail which is de-prioritising HMRC post because it is part of a deal to keep price per letter down.  Like HMRC, Royal Mail can ship the bulk mail to any sorting office that has spare capacity and doesn't keep to 1st and 2nd class timetables.  But it's not supposed to take weeks.

If HMRC is accepting a slower service than the usual 'snail mail' dispatched from the originating office it should make allowances for that in its correspondence.  For example, 'please reply within 30 days of this letter' should, perhaps, be 44 days, and appeal deadlines should similarly be lengthened.

The inevitable update.....13th July has come and gone and unsurprisingly there has been no letter from HMRC either to provide a full reply or to let me know how they are progressing with my complaint as promissed. I called the complaint service in Edinburgh this morning and asked to speak to the complaints manager who wrote to me. I was told that he isn't in today but his colleague said he might be able to help if I was able to give him the reference on the letter. I was impressed that they were able to tell who I was just from the first 6 digits of the reference but was less impressed to be told that my complaint had been allocated to another team in Cardiff and had been assigned to someone whose name he did not recognise. He told me that he did not know how long it had been since the matter had been assigned to Cardiff but it seemed that my complaint had not been dealt with yet. He gave me the name of the person to whom it has been assigned and a direct dial phone number for them. I called Cardiff and asked to speak to the person whose name I had been given but was told they were not in the office today but would be back tomorrow. I asked if there was anyone else who could help in their absence but was given the impression that as they were the case worker they would be the only person who could help. I have told them that I will call tomorrow. I am starting to wish I had just written to my MP on 28th June as I had threatened to do.

A complaint letter sent to the Edinburgh complaints department on 9 June 2011 was returned by the Royal Mail on 1 July 2011.

The reason for its return was marked on the envelope by Royal Mail as "addressee gone away".  Does this mean HMRC has gone out of business or have they just closed the complaints department?

A second complaint made initially on 29 October 2010 has now been acknowledged by HMRC complaints department in East Kilbride (letter received today - 14 July 2011)  The second paragraph of the letter states "Whilst I appreciate your letter was addressed to East Kilbride, it was received following the migration of all employer schemes to the above office.  Because of this, it appears whoever handled your letter following its receipt, was unclear as to which office had the responsibility to deal with it"

 It would appear that it has taken 9 months for a letter sent to East Kilbride to be acknowledged by that same office due to some strange migration process?

Would the ICAEW be able to take these issuess up VERY STRONGLY with HMRC?

 

 

A further update....I have now spoken with Cardiff who have told me that the matter has only recently been referred to them and an acknowledgement of my complaint was sent by their office on 12th July. I have not received this yet but it will apparently tell me that my complaint has been transferred to them and that they will be conducting a review. I was advised that they had received some of the papers relevant to the case with the file from Edinburgh but that there are some further papers that they need and which are in storage at their repositary and which they have now applied to be released (so it has taken HMRC a month and a half just to get to the stage of recalling the relevant papers from storage). Apparently their system records that the documents are in the post on the way to Cardiff and I have been told that they apologise for the further delay but hope to review the papers and write to me as soon as possible after they arrive. I asked if this meant that they would be writing to me next week but I was unable to get a committment because they haven't seen the papers. However, they have taken my daytime phone number and have said they will call me if they anticipate any problems.

Another development....the letter from HMRC eventually arrived a week after it was dated and I have today received a call from the case worker assigned to my complaint to advise that my records have now arrived at Cardiff and they have started to look at them today. It was explained to me that, unfortunately, as was previously advised to me when I corresponded with HMRC to get this all sorted out the first time around last summer, there have been some 'migration' issues with regard to the transfer of records to the new PAYE system. This means that my complaint has had to be referred to a technical officer for review and to identify what needs to be done to correct HMRC's records in order to ensure that this does not happen again. This will, however, take 'some time' and may need them to create notes and cross references on their systems. They are currently just starting on this process and so do not know how long it will take but I have been advised that they will call again in a week's time to further update me as to the state of their progress.

Finally getting somewhere - just had a call from the caseworker handling my complaint to say that she had had the papers back and that the PAYE record had been corrected to remove the incorrect adjustment for underpaid tax from prior years. She advised that a letter and new PAYE code is being posted to me this morning.

I wrote to HMRC Central Agent Authorisation team on 24/5/11 asking for an agent code, and have still had no reply. I wrote a follow up letter on 14/7/11 - no reply to that either.

Following submission of three years Tax Returns for a new client on 8th February, we sent a separate letter the same day to HMRC Tax Office summarising the tax positiion and other circumstances, requesting a time to pay agreement on his behalf. Six weeks later we received assessments so wrote again, this time to Accounts Office referring to request for time to pay, but that we were waiting to hear. It is now 5th August and we have still not been contacted. We have telephoned on a weekly basis during which time we have had "delay in delaing with post" excuse, then "I have dealt with it but it has been forwarded to higher grade staff for review in another office and we don't know who or where they are" to last week "oh yes there are notes on the file recording your request, I can see them clearly" but no action. Then only good thing is that there has been no enforcement action taken, but this is a long way from agreeing a payment plan, particularly for someone who doesn't know whether he can afford to retire or not! It also does not move the spectre of the heavy brigade descending on him at any time with demands and menaces, which will then reflect badly on us despite all the efforts we have taken. Perhaps I should have approached the agent manager, but is this within their remit?

I wrote to HMRC on 28 April asking them to reallocate some tax payments differently as it would cancel the end of February 2011 surcharge of c.£600.

I received a holding reply after about a month.

The matter has now been sorted, payments reallocated and surcharge cancelled. HMRC reply was dated 4 August so 14 weeks in total.

Wrote to CT Croydon on 5 August 2011 regarding having a company struck off (C16 etc). Advised today post for that period will not be opened for a week or so.  That will make it six weeks at least before we have any hope of receiving a reply.

Angela has a bit to wait yet. I sent a complaint to Long Benton on 15 June, followed by 2 reminders with copies of the complaint. Not even an acknowledgement yet, and have just been told that they have a 3 month backlog. As the complaint relates to a PAYE repayment now over 9 months overdue, goodness knows when that will surface. Long Benton must be in competition with the black holes in outer space - a complete void. I am only a small practice and I have 3 outstanding complaints - all of which seem to have disappeared into the backlog of mail. Customer service - what a sick joke. Funny how it doesn't seem to work both ways. I believe there is a strike soon - will I notice the difference ?

Sent taxation forms to Cardiff on 9th February to be stamped and signed. Finally got them back on 19th March, unsigned and stamped because they were 'incomplete'. The information they asked for is never completed at this stage, so complete ignorance on their behalf there. So well over a month's wait and back to square one. They are not fit for purpose.

I sent a letter of formal complaint to the tax office in Liverpool on the 16th January 2012. Having had no reply, on the 10th March 2012, I sent an 'escalation of formal complaint' letter to the complaints section at the Liverpool office. I asked for an acknowledgement of this letter, but as of the 3rd April still no response. The complaints procedure is full of statements about how they care, but this does not appear to be correct in some cases. You can't escalate the complaint without a reply from HMRC and if they don't respond you appear stuck.

Office - CARDIFF I first wrote to HMRC regarding a tax refund on 9th September 2011, when I enquired in December 2011 I was told they had no trace of the letter and had I sent it 'recorded delivery'. I resent my orginal letter with a covering letter in December 2011 and sent it special delivery. I then received a form to complete, which I did and returned and two notices of coding - but no response regarding my refund!! I eventually wrote a complaint on 3rd March 2012, I had heard nothing by end of March so rang the HMRC Helpdesk - to be told 'letters were opened in date order and mine had been opened on 28th March 2012 (3 weeks). It is now 30th April and I have still not had a response (8 weeks). So a total of 7th months of trying to get an answer from HMRC regarding my refund. In the meantime I have received a notice of coding for 2012/13 which was incorrect - it reduced by personal allowance by £6000 instead of £3500 so I have had to write back to them asking them to recalculate, still waiting response! A friend of mine who wrote to them asking for a refund at the beginning of March 2012 received a response within 3 weeks saying she owed them £8000 which was incorrect, they actually owe her £4300. Funny how they response when they think you owe them money (even when they are wrong). I am ex civil servant with an AAT qualification and a qualified business analyst and experience in quality processes and am appalled by the service I have experienced from HMRC.

Having read the extent of problems at HMRC it is apparent that repayment delays avail cost free credit to the HMRC, stifle consumption within the economy and therefore make economic circumstances worse for everyone. On the round, the constraint of domestic consumption means that HMRC should find trouble raising adequate tax to cope with own commitments. Whilst security checks may be necessary in place, these ought not be unreasonably protracted. People filing returns are self-employed struggling looking for assignments and counting on every penny to make ends meet. The extent of delays would suggest that HMRC is markedly out of touch with customers they are serving. My experience with HMRC is daunting.

Post to PAYE & SA PO Box 1970 LIVERPOOL with post code dated 1 DECEMBER 2011 NO REPLY, YET !! Original letter followed by three reminders. Still NO REPLY

From IG, Stockport

Wrote to HMRC, PAYE & Self Assessment, PO Box 4000, Cardiff  CF14 8HR on 16 Feb 2012 asking for copies of Notices to File Self Assessment returns going back several years for a client. They are chasing outstanding returns and late filing penalties while client maintains they were never requested and no notices received.

I sent reminders 27 March and 27 April. on 1 May received a reply dated 19 April to my second letter saying it has been passed to a higher grade officer. I called the phone number on the letter and asked to speak to the sender. I was told it was a call centre with three hundred people. I could not get put through to sender or the 'higher grade officer'. I queried the date on the letter. I was told that letters can take up to 5 days to go out and 10 days to arrive. I asked to speak to someone and was told a telephone call back will take up to 5 working days.

I asked in a sympathetic manner if the person I was speaking to found the system as frustrating as taxpayers/agents find it. The person didn't seem to care.

This is ludicrous and totally unprofessional. They refer to taxpayers as 'customers'. Well no business treating their customers in this way would survive two minutes.

On the positive side, posted a letter on 26 April (less than a week ago) to Accounts Office Cumbernauld, re a PAYE overpayment and received a phone call about it today!

I received a call back on 27 April from my telephone call to HMRC on 21 March. I have chased this call up twice since that date. I asked why the call back took longer than 5 days & I was told that at the moment call backs are taking 5 weeks as they are so busy!!