HMRC Appeals advice

[Wanderer]

Am even more pissed off after speaking to the extremely obtuse woman at HMRC this morning.

I had a problem with HMRC and my accountant phoned them up and ripped their head off about it. The HMRC told the accountant to get me to put it all down in writing but my accountant told them that it was their cock-up and they were going to sort it out as the company director was a very busy man.

I was surprised that the accountant was so forceful with them and she told me that they were basically office workers paid minimum wage so don't expect too much intelegence from them!

Don't let the b'stards grind you down. Wait till you get the letter (record which date it arrives), then beat your accountant up for making a mess and get them to sort it out.

Good luck!

[Maslins]

Thanks for the tip about my accountant being able to view what HMRC claim is the tax due online - I may ask him to look at this on Monday.

By going on line, are my accountants able to obtain a copy of the tax returns they submitted? Reason for asking is my potential new accountant requires a copy of the previous years return when you join them.

You can't download the actual return submitted, but can request HMRC to send a copy of it, usually only takes a few days. The only thing you can see on the website (again this is assuming your current accountant is registered as tax agent for you, otherwise he won't be able to see anything) is the tax liabilities for each year, and payments made. As Clare said earlier, how HMRC choose to match payments against liabilities can sometimes be a little frustrating!

As part of the handover process (you changing accountant) your new accountant should write to your previous accountant for professional clearance. Usually this is a token formality, and the previous accountant will also then forward copies of all relevant info such as most recent accounts, tax returns, along with any useful workings.

NB try to avoid calling your existing accountant an arse directly until after this has been done, otherwise it may slip down his priority list

[ChimpMaster]

...........
I was surprised that the accountant was so forceful with them and she told me that they were basically office workers paid minimum wage so don't expect too much intelligence from them!
.......

So true, so true. The worst thing is that they are made to believe that they are Gods.

[Clippy]

So, what lands on my doormat this morning?

The copy of my Self Assessment statement which was requested on Friday as the original one, which was allegedly posted to me on 21 February, never arrived.

Proof that HMRC can process paperwork quickly if they can get off their fat a*ses!

[Clippy]

Visited my accountant today to go over the figures submitted and tracked down the error.

He had included some of my Ltd company expenses as BIK when he shouldn't have as they were incurred wholly and exclusively to carry out my contract role.

He advised he would write to HMRC to advise them of this and that they would review and re-submit a new Self Assessment statement.

To the accountants - have you experienced similar scenarios where clients Self Assessments have had to be amended? How do HMRC take to this? Do they happily amend with a 'wrist slap' approach or do they dig deeper and ask for further evidence?

[Clare@InTouch]

Visited my accountant today to go over the figures submitted and tracked down the error.

He had included some of my Ltd company expenses as BIK when he shouldn't have as they were incurred wholly and exclusively to carry out my contract role.

He advised he would write to HMRC to advise them of this and that they would review and re-submit a new Self Assessment statement.

To the accountants - have you experienced similar scenarios where clients Self Assessments have had to be amended? How do HMRC take to this? Do they happily amend with a 'wrist slap' approach or do they dig deeper and ask for further evidence?

It's actually very common for a P11d to be submitted with vaild expenses, and HMRC to then allocate them as a BIK - something to do with the way they transfer the data onto their systems. I've had this happen to a lot of clients when what we submitted was absolutely correct.

They should simply amend the assesment and that will be the end of it.

[Clippy]

It's actually very common for a P11d to be submitted with vaild expenses, and HMRC to then allocate them as a BIK - something to do with the way they transfer the data onto their systems. I've had this happen to a lot of clients when what we submitted was absolutely correct.

They should simply amend the assesment and that will be the end of it.

Great thanks.

So, you think that HMRC added the expenses to my Self Assessment themselves from my P11D as opposed to my accountant inadvertently adding them? This would make more sense.

[Clare@InTouch]

Great thanks.

So, you think that HMRC added the expenses to my Self Assessment themselves from my P11D as opposed to my accountant inadvertently adding them? This would make more sense.

Very possibly. They take the allowable expenses figure and transfer it across as non-allowable. It's amazing how many people it happens to, and that HMRC haven't sorted it out at their end. It often results in incorrect tax codes with higher rate adjustments.

[Clippy]

Very possibly. They take the allowable expenses figure and transfer it across as non-allowable. It's amazing how many people it happens to, and that HMRC haven't sorted it out at their end. It often results in incorrect tax codes with higher rate adjustments.

Appreciate the replies.

Last question - my accountant is going to write to them tomorrow - he is out of the office today. Do you think HMRC will sort it at their end before the new tax codes are issued? Would rather not go through the pain of having to sort that out as well at some point!

[Clare@InTouch]

Appreciate the replies.

Last question - my accountant is going to write to them tomorrow - he is out of the office today. Do you think HMRC will sort it at their end before the new tax codes are issued? Would rather not go through the pain of having to sort that out as well at some point!

Probably not knowing HMRC! When the coding notice comes through it's easy enough to get changed though, simply call HMRC and ask for it to be adjusted. They should then reissue it quite quickly