HMRC Tax Blunder

[papasmurf1cx]

The Mail are reporting that Tax Accountants are saying that the HMRC don't have to demand money that has not been paid if the blunder is don to them. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309639/Tax-blunder-rebellion-Experts-urge-1-4m-pay-taxmans-mistake.html

 

Does anyone have details of the 'A19: Extra-Statutory Concession'?

 

Seems to me MP's should be getting on to the Government asap and stopping this for everyone's sake and wasting time and resources collecting it.

[Guest Jason King]

Absolutely not.

 

Will I get to write off £1500 tax because I'm self employed so all tax payers are on an equal footing?

 

PAYE is not exact. It is collected during the year and is often rounded up or down around April, although it is usually just a few quid.

 

In any case, it is still the individuals responsibility, PAYE or self employed, to know their full tax liability for a financial year.

[rebel11]

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/specialist/esc.pdf

 

If they have known for many months, then they should have informed Tax Payers once they found out, not thrust this out of the blue.

 

http://perspicacious.co.uk/all-the-news/tax-blunder-rebellion-experts-urge-14m-not-to-pay-up-for-the-taxmans-mistake/31578/

 

But accountants have revealed that under a technicality, called the ‘A19: Extra-Statutory Concession’, the law states that HMRC may have to write-off the money.

There is no limit to the amount of money which can be written off under this concession.

Under the working of the A19 concession, it states HMRC will back down if the victim ‘could reasonably have believed that his or her tax affairs were in order’.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309639/Tax-blunder-rebellion-Experts-urge-1-4m-pay-taxmans-mistake.html?ITO=1490

Edited September 7, 2010 by rebel11

[soli2008]

is there a standard letter template in existence we can use to claim under the A19 concession?

[tomboy1]

good question on the standered letter template we can use to claim under the A19 concession? i;d like to see one on here so i can use it to sort this blunder out if i get a bill from them . What i dont understand is this > if the dwp overpay u any benefit by there mistake they cant recover it off you by law it should be the sam for the tax office , Or are they a law onto there own ?

[rebel11]

I think a standard letter might be the wrong way to go with this.

 

Arrears of income tax and capital gains tax may be given up if they result from the failure of HMRC to make proper and timely use of information supplied by

 

 

· a taxpayer about his or her own income, gains or personal circumstances

 

 

or

 

 

· an employer, if the information affects a taxpayer's coding

 

 

or

 

 

· the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), about a taxpayer's state retirement, disability or widow's pension.

 

 

Tax will normally be given up only if the taxpayer

 

 

· could reasonably have believed that his or her tax affairs were in order

 

 

and

 

 

· was notified of the arrears more than 12 months after the end of the tax year in which HMRC received the information indicating that more tax was due

 

 

or

 

 

· was notified of an over-repayment after the end of the tax year following the year in which the repayment was made.

 

 

In exceptional circumstances arrears of tax notified 12 months or less after the end of the relevant tax year may be given up if HMRC

 

 

· failed more than once to make proper use of the facts they had been given about one source of income

 

 

· allowed the arrears to build up over two whole tax years in succession by failing to make proper and timely use of information they had been given’

 

 

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group accused the department of being ' notoriously reticent' about the A19 loophole.

 

Chairman John Andrews said: 'It is important to know that the concession exists.'

 

He urged people to treat any letter, particularly the calculation of the underpayment of tax, 'with caution', adding: 'It will be by no means certain that they will be correct or should be agreed.'

 

Mr Warburton said: 'People are perfectly entitled to claim under A19 concession - and they should do so. I am particularly worried about pensioners, many of whom will feel pressured into paying the bill and then will go without the basics to survive financially.'

 

He said taxpayers should write a letter to HMRC stating clearly they thought their affairs were in order, that the letter has come as 'a bolt out of the blue', and they cannot afford to repay the money.

 

Tina Riches, of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, said: 'Most people who get the letters will think "HMRC had all the information-I presumed that the tax I was paying was correct". Most people have no reason to think the tax they were paying was wrong.'

 

If an individual submits an A19 concession but loses, they can turn to the free appeal service run by The Adjudicator's Office, which acts as a 'fair and unbiased referee' on complaints about HMRC.