Hi all.

My mother has received the attached from Arrow.

It purports to be for an over payment on a former debt which has been cleared some time ago.

I can confirm that the debt did exist.

I'm just querying whether this is legit and not some sort of phishing exercise.

If it is legit could you advise on next steps?

Many thanks in advance.

DD Wales

deduct basic rate income tax? On an overpayment to a debt?

Huh?

Its all legit.

I had the same and got a nice refund.

The tax is on the interest and can be reclaimed by a non tax payer.

all interest of less than £1k a year is tax free so the bandits have no right to deduct it.

Let them know that you dont accept their offer with this punitive and unlawful deduction and you are quite happy to take the matter further as the courts interest at taxation does not attract the deduction and your mum quite fancies a day out at their expense.

In short, it is NOT TAXABLE INCOME

If they have to send out 1000 letters and 999 of the recipients dont challenge this they save about 7 grand so it is worth their while trying to misdirect you.

some companies advertise items for sale with VAT to be added to the sale when VAT isnt applicable. Now these companies are more than welcome to forward the VAT if they fell like collecting it and HMRC will be happy to accept the money but how many of them do and how many just trouser the extra paid on the non VAT items I wonder?

Usual on PPI refunds..never heard of it on over payments. ...and only at a rate of 8%.

Not sure about their 20% ?

https://www.litrg.org.uk/latest-news/news/140217-have-you-recently-received-cheque-having-been-mis-sold-ppi

Andy

Not 100% but I have always been under the impression that tax is deducted at the basic rate and any rebate is claimed direct from HMRC. This is the same as interest on a savings account if you don't tell the bank that you are a non tax payer (or less than £1000 in savings)

Also thought that 8% was statutory interest.

The letter says to reclaim any tax direct from HMRC.

nah, less than £1k in INTEREST and this certainly is well below that figure.

They just want you to accept the paymnt as they know HMRC will muck you about for ever more. they havent paid the money to the taxman and never will unless you try and claim it back.

Strange how they request you to contact them to process a refund...why not just process it...if they are correct... which i doubt very much ?