UK Taxpayers Advised On PAYE Letters

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

09 September 2010

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), an initiative of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, has issued a guide for taxpayers in receipt of PAYE tax calculation letters from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The 14-page guide, available on the group’s website, includes:

• Step by step guidance for people who are told they have underpaid tax;
• An explanation of the circumstances in which people can challenge HMRC;
• An annotated version of the ‘P800 Notes’ (the notice people will be sent telling them of their recalculated tax); and,
• Examples of the letters taxpayers could write in response to receipt of a tax calculation.

LITRG Chairman, John Andrews said:

“Taxpayers receiving tax calculations from HMRC are in need of help, particularly if these show that they owe money to HMRC and they cannot afford to pay for a tax adviser. We do not feel that HMRC have done all they could to help the vulnerable and the uninitiated, something which we hope will be improved before the large bulk of the six million calculations are sent out.”

“So, to fill the gap, we are providing extra guidance. The position is complicated, but we have tried to cover most circumstances. Our aim was to provide assistance to people who can adapt it to fit their own situation.”

“We will be refining our advice as further evidence of the nature of problems occurring becomes apparent. In the meantime, we hope that HMRC will improve their guidance, particularly for people without access to the internet. We also hope that in areas of doubt, of which there are many, they will apply a generous and sympathetic approach.”

Recommended