Very Annoying HMR&C

Poodle

Dear all

I am getting increasingly frustrated with HMR&C.

The facility on HMR&C website to reduce PAO on line does not update immediately or even within weeks and so clients are still showing larger amounts of tax due or now outstanding. Even though I have a receipt saying that it has been applied.

This is fine as long as HMR&C do not contact your client directly as I have had twice now one today and one yesterday saying that they owe more tax. They are both higer rate tax payers. It just wastes my time then phoning the tax office to sort it out and then going back to the client to explain. Urgh

I even had one yesterday where HMR&C applied a pension again that already appeared on the SA tax return and then wrote to my client with a bill for unpaid tax saying that there had been a mistake on the tax return. Another wasted 20 minutes.

I am only a small practice and see this as an unacceptable percentage of problems, that will probably only get worse.

I feel really sorry for you guys who work with many more clients than me. Do you have to employ someone specifically dedicated to sort out HMR&C problems?

Poodle

Monsoon

If they balls up, and it costs you time, bill them. They do actually pay.
I will have a chat with my business partner to ask him how he did it.
We have a policy of doing this when it takes up significant amounts of time, for which we can't bill the client. Sadly/ happily they have been reasonably competent of late...