HMRC hands back £4 million to wronged taxpayers
Adjudicator upholds 90% of complaints against HMRC.
Nearly 90% of complaints against the taxman were at least 'partially' upheld last year, the latest annual report from the Adjudicator's Office has revealed.
What's more, more than 50% were 'substantially' upheld across 2013/14.
As a result HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) paid out more than £4 million returning tax it had claimed incorrectly, as well as redress payments, to taxpayers who brought their complaint to the Adjudicator’s Office.
What does The Adjudicator do?
The role of The Adjudicator’s Office is to provide impartial investigations into complaints brought by individuals and businesses unhappy about the handling of their complaints by HMRC, the Valuation Office Agency or The Insolvency Service.
If a person has already made a complaint to one of these bodies, and is unhappy with the outcome, they can request a formal review of their case by the department in question. If they are still not satisfied after that point, they may approach the Adjudicator’s Office, who will review the case and decide whether to uphold the complaint.
If they do uphold the complaint, the complaint may be settled by mediation, where both parties reach an agreement. 55% of complaints were mediated in 2013/14. Failing that, it can be resolved by recommendation – the Adjudicator steps in to review the case, before outlining its views and any recommendations.
If the complaint is not upheld, but you provide new evidence which is fundamental to proving the case in your favour, you can ask The Adjudicator to reconsider the case. If that doesn’t work out, you can then ask your MP to refer the complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
£4 million pay-out
Most of the £4 million paid out to HMRC customers came in the form of liability given up. That relates to cases where HMRC had received too much money from taxpayers, which has now been paid back.
In some cases, the Adjudicator will recommend that HMRC pays out more than was owed in recognition of poor service offered and relevant costs. £103,498 was paid out due to worry and distress caused, £142,596 as compensation for poorly handled complaints, and a further £180,615 was handed out to cover various costs.
Complaints against HMRC
In 2013/14, The Adjudicator’s Office received 1,087 new complaints, resolving 2,311. The reason why the number of resolved cases outweighs the new cases is due to a backlog; Adjudicator Judy Clements OBE explains in her report that her office had nearly 2,700 cases on hand at the start of 2013/14, due to the “exceptional workload received in 2012-13, from HMRC customers”.
Commenting on the current situation, she said that there was “no place for complacency, particularly when this year 90% of HMRC customer complaints have been upheld. I am again disappointed to see HMRC staff still overlooking the needs of some vulnerable customers.”
Have you had issues with HMRC in the past? Let us know your experiences in the comments box below.
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Anyone who has ever had a close encounter with HMRC knows what they are like and how they pile on the harassment, pressure and stress. Yet they make more mistakes than all the taxpayers put together. I know of a lady they 'investigated', who had a small property income, no earned income and volunteered in a charity shop. Such a waste of everyone's time.
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Trouble with all this is HMRC have too much power, they know it, so they abuse it. Ask anyone who has had to put up with one of there so called enquiries, they will tell you the same. If HMRC don't have facts to work by they make assumptions then make it up as they go along in the hope they will catch you out further down the line. A murderer even when the writing is on the wall is considered innocent until proven guilty. But with HMRC it starts the opposite way round, they make their assumptions in the hope you cannot prove them wrong. Even when you do in my experience they don't even say sorry. Instead they come up with some excuse or other for why they put their victim through their pointless torture which could end up costing their victim thousands to fight. What all HMRC tax inspectors could do with, is first spending time in the real world, the same real world where the self employed work, i.e. they need to experience what it is like when no profit = no food. Where there is no sick pay when you stay in bed all day with a cold, no fat pension at 50 or anything else for that matter. The self employed sink or swim on their own merit alone. What HMRC should also remember is, if it was not for the self employed, the people who often actually risk everything and more to create the businesses that grow then make the jobs that make the growth and wealth in this country, then without those people,HMRC really would not be needed. Because they would have nobody to persecute. Bottom line all HMRC do with their penalties and time limits is destroy the drive to create and make something to be proud of. Its a shame this exposure does not list the size of individual payouts, because I bet most payouts were derisory amounts, that in no way would of covered the true loss cost to the victims in stress, let alone the cost of accountants & lost nights sleep while it all was dragged out.
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HMRC often makes even simple things which tax payers are doing in an attempt to pay MORE tax difficult. It took me multiple attempts to sign up for self assessment (for the child benefit reasons). It turns out an HMRC employee could not understand that I may need to repay some child benefit for 13-14 when I did not in 12-13 (apparently no-one ever received pay rises or changes jobs!). It is ludicrous that I am declined the opportunity of self-assessment when it is their rules telling me I need to be. Perhaps this is just another example of the rigging Fender talks about.
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06 August 2014