Client HMRC Repayment

jow774

I had a client come to me at the last minute wanting me to do a tax return. As it was last minute he had to enter the return himself online, so I did all the chasing up of lost cis vouchers etc and accounts prep and he came to my house and we did the return online together. He is claiming he has still not received his cheque and will not pay me until the cheque is received and cleared, I have now set him up as a client and it says the cheque was issued on the 3rd Feb? Does anyone know how long do cheques usually take to arrive from HMRC after despatch date?

Guest

Security check seems the most likely; we had a few of these where it needs to pass further checks as to the existence of the client! The only ones we had were over £2k and took a couple of weeks even though it says cheque issued, or in our case ‘paid to agent’ even more worrying!

jow774

Ooh interesting. This is for less than 1k but it is his first return. Im a nervous wreck about it as it was all last minute and he had hardly any vouchers, I had to chase a load up and a small p60 too, t'was a nightmare, lol.

T.C.

Missing the point a bit here - he won't pay you until he has received his cheque! Not the sort of client you want. What would have happened if he had no refund to claim - no payment for you? Next time, I would suggest money up-front or, as I do, payment before the tax return is submitted.
With regard to payments, I usually get these sent by bacs rather than cheque. I put a return on on 31st January and my client had his payment by the 10th February! I would contact HMRC and get them to cancel the cheque. Then get them to pay your client directly into his bank account, or better still into yours and you can pass on the "change".
Good luck.

Monsoon

T.C. wrote: »

Missing the point a bit here - he won't pay you until he has received his cheque! Not the sort of client you want. What would have happened if he had no refund to claim - no payment for you? Next time, I would suggest money up-front or, as I do, payment before the tax return is submitted.
With regard to payments, I usually get these sent by bacs rather than cheque. I put a return on on 31st January and my client had his payment by the 10th February! I would contact HMRC and get them to cancel the cheque. Then get them to pay your client directly into his bank account, or better still into yours and you can pass on the "change".
Good luck.

Agree with this 100%

I'm in the process of opening a client account so I can pay refunds to the client net of my fees. Especially useful for subbies.

jow774

Thanks, good advice. Hopefully next year I will have a few more clients and can be more choosy. You live and learn I suppose.