Tax problem

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

My gf got 2 pretty grim letters from HMRC a few months ago.

She works 3 PT jobs, & due to her employers all placing the same tax code on her records making her exempt from paying tax on the wages they pay her she now has to pay back about ?1500 for 1 yr & ?1000 for the other yr.
Suspiciously tho, both letters turned up within a wk of each other instead of a yr apart which suggests to me that HMRC couldnt be bothered to send 1 last yr & sent it 1 yr late.

I've written to them suggesting that the employers have buggered up & (as stated on HMRC rules) could possibly be made to pay some of the amount themselves due to negligence, but they werent having it.

So we spoke to HMRC on the phone to try & work out a monthly payment amount to pay it back. She cant afford to pay more than ?30 max a month. We mentioned this but they want ?70 a month as it has to be payed over 3 yrs.
I had a bit of an arguement with the lady (who was very rude tbh) & told her that the amounts for each yr were on separate letters, each stating 3 yrs max to pay the amount, which would then mean she has 6 yrs to pay it back, but she wasnt having any of it & rushed to get me off the phone obviously as it was getttnig near to their clocking off time of 4pm .
She mentioned that if we dont pay the ?70 then the only other way to pay is to use a self assessment method to pay it back in smaller amounts but would incurr interest.

What annoys me is that she is not refusing to pay back the amount, its just that its too much to fork out every month, & wants to pay back half the asking amount over 6 yrs but they wont budge.

So what can we do & does anyone have any good advice on our situation, thanks.

[ETC]

My gf got 2 pretty grim letters from HMRC a few months ago.

She works 3 PT jobs, & due to her employers all placing the same tax code on her records making her exempt from paying tax on the wages they pay her she now has to pay back about ?1500 for 1 yr & ?1000 for the other yr.
Suspiciously tho, both letters turned up within a wk of each other instead of a yr apart which suggests to me that HMRC couldnt be bothered to send 1 last yr & sent it 1 yr late.

I've written to them suggesting that the employers have buggered up & (as stated on HMRC rules) could possibly be made to pay some of the amount themselves due to negligence, but they werent having it.

So we spoke to HMRC on the phone to try & work out a monthly payment amount to pay it back. She cant afford to pay more than ?30 max a month. We mentioned this but they want ?70 a month as it has to be payed over 3 yrs.
I had a bit of an arguement with the lady (who was very rude tbh) & told her that the amounts for each yr were on separate letters, each stating 3 yrs max to pay the amount, which would then mean she has 6 yrs to pay it back, but she wasnt having any of it & rushed to get me off the phone obviously as it was getttnig near to their clocking off time of 4pm .
She mentioned that if we dont pay the ?70 then the only other way to pay is to use a self assessment method to pay it back in smaller amounts but would incurr interest.

What annoys me is that she is not refusing to pay back the amount, its just that its too much to fork out every month, & wants to pay back half the asking amount over 6 yrs but they wont budge.

So what can we do & does anyone have any good advice on our situation, thanks.

citizens advice they will direct you where you need to go maybe via a solicitor etc

[Daragon]

My gf got 2 pretty grim letters from HMRC a few months ago.

She works 3 PT jobs, & due to her employers all placing the same tax code on her records making her exempt from paying tax on the wages they pay her she now has to pay back about ?1500 for 1 yr & ?1000 for the other yr.
Suspiciously tho, both letters turned up within a wk of each other instead of a yr apart which suggests to me that HMRC couldnt be bothered to send 1 last yr & sent it 1 yr late.

You'll have to explain this one. Either she was tax exempt or she wasn't. If the latter then you probably don't have much of a leg to stand on sadly.

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

No she wasnt tax exempt. What happened was that all the 3 places of work gave her the exempt tax code because her wages with them were within the tax free allowance amount. All 3 places of work knew that she worked in the other jobs btw so they kinda buggered up. They paid a little tax at the beginning in 1 of her jobs then suddenly stopped & as most of us tend to do we check our paychecks to see what we've earned & whats been taken out for the 1st few months but then dont bother looking again or just check our bank account instead.

Like I said she's not trying to wriggle out of this, she just wants a more fair & understanding response & agreement regarding paying it back

[Brad]

From my experience it is utterly impossible to reason with HMRC. They are literally above the law.

Write to them. Don't phone them, you won't get anywhere. And yeah, contact the CAB. Best of luck.

[Plough Boy]

HMRC will just say that as she is the one working she is the one liable.
If her payslips showed she was tax exempt it would have been up to her to sort out the tax liability - which she knew would exist.
Yes, her employers could probably have been more helpful but ultimately the liability is hers.
CAB may be able to help you out but HMRC generally tend to get what they want.
Please note - I don't agree with their attitude but as a former accountant I know what a nightmare they can be. I was an auditor though and not a personal tax specialist so there may be more leverage in personal circumstances. I hope there is and it gets sorted in your favour.

[fishbowlhead]

From my experience it is utterly impossible to reason with HMRC. They are literally above the law.

Write to them. Don't phone them, you won't get anywhere. And yeah, contact the CAB. Best of luck.

This, they cant be reasoned with, at all. Make sure every letter is sent recorded delivery at least, as they have a lovely habit of loosing letters you send them

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

This, they cant be reasoned with, at all. Make sure every letter is sent recorded delivery at least, as they have a lovely habit of loosing letters you send them

.....& sending a tax demand 1 yr later than they should have too .

2 yrs of underpaid tax sent on 2 seperate letters within 1 wk of each other = LAZY USELESS BASTS!!

Thanks for the info peeps. I'm trying to find out if there is a group that helps non UK citizens out in cases like this. Maybe they'll be more understanding regarding the situation if it comes from someone more official (less aggro!!) than me.

[Robster]

HMRC cannot be reasoned with Im afraid, I had ongoing dispute with them for nearly 6 months.

The best thing you can do is:

Put everything in writing, get HMRC complaints addrss and post it recorded.

In the letter make sure you emphisise that the ?70 repayment amount will put your gf into financial hardship and through no fault of her own she is in this situation. You may have to fill out an income/expenditure form to show HMRC you will be in hardship.

Highlight that one of the letters arrived a year late and suspiciously at the same time as the other letter and if the first letter had arrived on time it might have made it financially more managable.

Lastly and most importantly : go to your MP and ask him to make a formal complaint on your behalf, this is the highest level of complaint the HMRC can receive and if its not resolved in the way you want you can then complain direct to operations director.

Have everything documented - times & dates, names of who you spoke to and keep eveything in writing. This will help you and help your MP make the complaint.

Hopefully you will get the repayment amount down to a suitable level, the 3 year limit can be exceeded using discretion so the more you play the financial hardship card the higher your success rate.

Hope this helps

[Stoppy2000]

Surely she should've filled in a p46 or handed in a p45 to her employer?