Income Tax/Inland Revenue issue

[quick-smart]

I wasn't sure where to post this so I hope this is an appropriate board.

 

The problem is with my partner (boom boom!)

 

No seriously, he's in a right mess with the inland revenue and with them being so finickity about who they talk to it's one problem where I can't phone up and sort it out for him.

 

It's very lengthy but I'll keep it short and if anyone needs further info I'll add to it.

 

He's been working for the same company now for over 3 years, and has a company car with the job, which he's had with all his jobs in the last 6/7 years.

 

He is on PAYE, and he doesn't get a fuel card, he has to claim for fuel used for business purposes per mile.

 

Before Christmas, he received a few letters, (all very contradictory) saying he owed £3600 in unpaid tax for 'benefit in kind' i.e. the car.

 

Originally they wanted payment by 30 days from the notice but after he spoke to them they said he'd have to make repayment arrangements with their own Debt Collection department, and that he would be contacted by them in due course. He was told that due to the size of the debt, he wouldn't be able to pay it back from his salary as it was too high an amount.

 

He checked with his payroll department who have confirmed that they have sent a P11D to the inland revenue every year he's worked for the company, detailing the benefits in kind he's received.

 

He has also spoken to them a couple of years prior to this 'debt' and went through all the information they had about him when he first started with the company including car details.

 

He duly waited to be contacted by the debt department, but then received a letter to say that he was in fact going to have the amount taken from his salary every month for a year, resulting in an increase of £300 in tax every month. He's on a resonable salary, but it's not even at the threshold for higher tax with his benefits, so £300 a month is exceptionally high.

 

He then contacted them with the details of the information he'd recieved saying he wouldn't have to pay in a year, and the debt collection bit, but he's still waiting for a reply. It's approaching the 28 days to reply, but part of the problem is a) Chris is disputing the amount as he's on PAYE so if it's been done wrong, as far as I've been able to ascertain it's either his employer's fault or HMRC's fault, and that most people get the option to pay in installments appropriate to their income, and b) they in fact still owe him the tax back on fuel spent for work purposes which should knock about £1000 off the bill to start with.

 

We could then pay another chunk off the bill so the monthly payments come down further, but the problem now is that when he tries to phone them, he isn't even put in a queue, he's just cut off because 'all the operators are busy'

 

Does anyone have any ideas/advice about this problem?

 

Any help would be gratefully received

 

We are now trying to contact them to see how much longer we'll have to wait

[sequenci]

hello there, this is outside my own knowledge base but you could consider giving one of these places a call:

 

business debtline: 0800 197 6026

tax aid: 0845 120 3779 (only open between 10-12)

[excel1]

Hi,

 

Dont even bother phoning waste of time put it all in writing, they cant deny anything that way either. As you have already said your husband is PAYE so this is either the companies fault or HMRC not yours, whilst you are still liable if the HMRC are at fault they should accept your offer to remove the money owing you plus you lump sum and a instalment for the rest, or if it your employers fault they should settle and take instalements instead.

My other half was overpaid as although working in UK is employed via an american firm, they worked out uk tax wrong and when they realised they stopped but said its our fault so we will not reclaim the £ 1800 that should go to HMRC that they gave her, so push them either way and if you are better at dealing with this then you can write and he sign or if you want to phone send a letter giving you authrity to deal with it on his behalf ( they dont like it but have no choice but to honour that)

[quick-smart]

Thanks for the advice - have made a note of the numbers, if we get nowhere that will be our next port of call.

 

Hopefully he should receive a reply back this week as it's approaching the 28 day limit, so I think we're going to hold off on doing anything else, have told him if he wants to give them a call, the only thing he should do is ask what the status of the reply to his letter is, more to give hime peace of mind than anything else.

 

As he hasn't been on a normal tax code for years, I think they've miscalculated here, but unfortunately we've just got to wait and see what they say!

[sismile]

It might be worth posting this on the Taxationweb forum - UK tax information on capital gains tax, property tax, inheritance tax, expatriate tax, VAT, etc.

 

They have several tax experts on that forum who might be able to help.

[quick-smart]

Thanks for the information, I've found the Tax forum on that site very helpful

[quick-smart]

I've posted another thread on here about my partner's income tax problem:- http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/139620-income-tax-inland-revenue.html

But there's been a serious update to this now, which is causing him problems with his other debt's and we need some advice on the best course of action.

 

Initially, the amount of tax he was supposed to pay extra each month was £300, which was already too high for him to absorb, and we're still trying to deal with that but as you probably know, HMRC do things in their own time! The fact is that this is the first month he's had the new tax code, and they've taken an extra £490 on TOP of his normal tax/NI.

 

This means that at the moment, he's in a position where he literally can't afford to pay all of his loans/cards, and he's had to not pay one of them. He's got a Debenhams card, a loan with Lloyds TSB and a loan with HFC. As his current account is with Lloyds, he's going to pay their loan, but he can't pay the HFC loan as well, which is £360 per month.

 

I know we need to sit down and sort out his debts in the long term, but this is am immediate problem so he's had no choice.

 

Is there anything else we could do, would it be worth trying to negotiate with his debtors for a temporary reduction in what he pays until we've sorted this problem with HMRC?

 

Thank you

[citizenB]

bump x

[drob]

My advice is to sit down and and work out your Income and Expenditure and identfy your priority and non priority debts. Once you have done that you can complete a financial statement and offer a temporary payment agreement to your non priority debtors.

 

I have a Spreadsheet that will automaticaly do this for you if you want it.

[Spiceskull]

My advice would be to sit down with HMRC, and discuss the issues. You mention a new tax code - this implies that the old one may have been wrong...

 

You don't go into too much detail, but I would gather that the problems arise from outstanding liabilities - ask them to check the figures, especially in light of his new tax code. It is possible he is due a rebate, and in the short term this can be offset against what he owes...and may help to reduce the monthly payments downwards from £300...

[rory32]

2 threads merged.

[emboli]

Snap - I had a similar issue. My company had underpaid my tax for the past year. The tax office were going to take it in one go, but i managed to get them to change this years tax code. Up shot, my income has dropped by just over 300 per month. Partly due to paying the correct tax level, the rest to catch up with underpayment. To be fair the tax officer i spoke to was understanding, i had hoped they would take it over the next few years, but no chance on that. So i've now sent 7 CCA request as it's going to get tight!

[slick132]

Hi QS,

 

From what I've read, it's clear that this is not YOUR fault.

 

Also, if your employer has submitted forms P11D (concerning employee benefits and in particular the car) on time each year, it's not THEIR fault.

 

I wonder, therefore, if HMRC has failed to use the P11D info each year, to calculate the taxable benefit you've had re the car, in a timely manner.

 

You need to establish over how many years the arrears have arisen and how much they are trying to recoup in the current tax year.

 

If the arrears relate to more than one year, you should complain against any attempt to recoup it too quickly, PARTICULARLY if this is causing you hardship with your general finances.

 

You may be able to get the current year's PAYE code amended urgently so it effectively gives you some tax relief or reduction with your next salary payment.

 

Write to your HMRC office urgently, mark the letter Urgent Complaint - Hardship caused by wrong tax coding and ask:-

 

1) For an immediate explanation of why they have allowed arrears to accrue when info has been made available to them on time.

 

2) For the coding restriction in your current PAYE code to be removed or reduced as it is causinf immediate hardship.

 

3) For their alternative proposals as to how any arrears can be more reasonably collected.

 

4) Credit to be given for the payments he has made for business mileage fuel.