The Taxman cometh!

The advantage the big banks have over us pensioners is that they can afford the best in accountants to find and exploit the loopholes .

peter.

The mind boggles that they spend time on such trivial amounts while letting fortunes slip away over a champagne lunch......

I have just had my notice of coding through from HMRC. I have underpayed them by £1 in a previous year, so apart from deducting the Old Age Pension from the tax free allowance as is the norm, they have also reduced my tax free allowance by a further £5 so they can collect their £1 underpayment. Big Corporations, banks included, get away with out paying the tax they owe, but an OAP owes them £1 and they make darn sure they collect it.  Still I suppose I should be delighted to have helped the Govt plug the hole in the Country's deficit.   Rant over.

Write your comments here... AND I am guessing they set the original tax code themselves and you trusted them (as we all would). Appalling! Write to your MP, if nothing else you can get it off your chest officially. Good luck

this time last year (I remember writing about it on CT) the taxman (or woman) said I had underpaid and would adjust my tax code to get it back this year. I couldn't understand why as I'd been in the same job, or anything else had changed, so I rang them up and got no where. Anyway during this year I have kept a closer eye using their new tax code and it appeared that this year I have overpaid. I rang them up last week and they agreed and (wait for it) didn't understand why the tax code was changed. Anyway I'm due a refund in the next pay packet or so, it's just been a case of enforced saving!

V9 is right and then there comes a point where the company accountants then negotiate with HMRC and the final payment is usually a lot less than the original tax demand

A few years back, HMRC had a problem sending out the demands for the January self assessment payments, so OH had to try to work out how much I was due to pay.

Turned out she had estimated a little wrong and I underpaid by 5p.

They were kind enough to write to me (how much did that cost?) and tell me that they would not demand immediate payment of the missing 5p..........but would add it on to the following year's payment.......and they did!

1p ,I kid you not!When my Dad died I sorted out his and my Mum's tax issues for Mum.After waiting ages on the phone etc we finally got a sum owing out of them,which I paid in full.Blow me down when a letter arrived from Cumbernauld requesting 1p in unpaid tax!I sellotaped  1p to the form and sent them the widow's mite!Upon reflection I should have put on a 2p piece and asked for the change!I copied the demand and framed it as a testimony to HMRC's  avarice and incompetence.

Despite all our knocking them, I have to say that this years tax coding letter is by far the easiest to understand I have ever received. However I do still wait for further correspondence relating to any overpayment/underpayment - hopefully that will be easily understood as well!

I have just had my notice of coding through from HMRC. I have underpayed them by £1 in a previous year, so apart from deducting the Old Age Pension from the tax free allowance as is the norm, they have also reduced my tax free allowance by a further £5 so they can collect their £1 underpayment. Big Corporations, banks included, get away with out paying the tax they owe, but an OAP owes them £1 and they make darn sure they collect it.  Still I suppose I should be delighted to have helped the Govt plug the hole in the Country's deficit.   Rant over.

Write your comments here... AND I am guessing they set the original tax code themselves and you trusted them (as we all would). Appalling! Write to your MP, if nothing else you can get it off your chest officially. Good luck

I have wrote so many letters to HMRC since I retired in 2010 (and also OH) that I have got to the point where it has almost become a sport.  Sometimes I win, this time I lose.  But I must say that this left me totally speechless, £1, for heavens sake.  I did feel like sending them £1 in halfpennies, but it would only cost me more in stamps.  Our new MP unlike our previous one, is gaining a reputation for not answering correspondence so I don't think I'll bother.  I did, when walking past HMRC in Whitehall, shout out, "persecutors of OAPs", which my OH said was not a good thing to do as at the time there was a demo taking place and lots of Policemen around. Lol. 

Despite all our knocking them, I have to say that this years tax coding letter is by far the easiest to understand I have ever received. However I do still wait for further correspondence relating to any overpayment/underpayment - hopefully that will be easily understood as well!

Yes, I noticed they had "dumbed down" the coding notice!

I actually found it a little  patronising.

However, I will say that any time I have needed to phone HMRC in the last 5 years,  they have been very pleasant and helpful, so I am pretty pleased with the service lately.