UK Taxpayers Warned To Question New HMRC Codings

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

05 October 2010

Adams and Remers solicitors has warned that UK taxpayers issued with incorrect tax codes face a 13-week wait for any postal response from the UK tax authority while its staff deals with a monumental backlog.

The warning comes as thousands of people, particularly elderly people with multiple pensions, and people with more than one job, attempt to challenge tax statements received by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) with respect to overpayments and underpayments. The law firm warned that it is seeing increasing instances where, despite clients' tax codes being 'corrected' by HMRC, claims for tax by the tax man remain wrongly calculated.

Stuart Jessop, Tax Adviser at Adams & Remers, said:

“This thirteen-week backlog is quite frankly unacceptable and in many cases people have had to write back to HMRC on more than one occasion. Their enquiries have become ‘gridlocked’ and there isn’t any certainty the issue will be resolved quickly.”

“My advice to anyone needing to deal with HMRC is to contact them initially by telephone or email them, and to keep a log of both telephone calls and correspondence. I have a number of clients who have been sent a corrected tax code or a letter informing them of underpaid tax for an earlier year which has, in fact, turned out to be incorrect. People who have multiple pensions or employments are the most likely to have been affected and I would advise them to seek professional advice to ensure they are being asked for the correct amount.”

“I always check a client’s PAYE code or tax calculation to make sure that it is correct and refer mistakes back to HMRC. However an individual dealing with their own affairs will most likely assume that the new code or calculation is correct and take no action on the assumption that HMRC have got it right. However in many instances this is not the case.”

Jessop concludes: “At the present time, do not assume anything HMRC sends you is correct, check it yourself and, if necessary, ask HMRC for more explanation or ask the assistance of an expert.”

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