Getting sick of this vat man
Discussion
For over a year now we’ve been waiting on two payments from HMRC for vat.
£9k odd from sept 2025
£220k odd from April 2026
We’ve have payments in 6 figures in between these two payments and all of a sudden radio silence happened in May contacted everyday finally got an officer on the case wants bank statements etc gave them over
Nothing back
Contacted MP now as it’s ridiculous.
MP has contacted HMRC on our behalf but no response to him either
Shambles really
£9k odd from sept 2025
£220k odd from April 2026
We’ve have payments in 6 figures in between these two payments and all of a sudden radio silence happened in May contacted everyday finally got an officer on the case wants bank statements etc gave them over
Nothing back
Contacted MP now as it’s ridiculous.
MP has contacted HMRC on our behalf but no response to him either
Shambles really
I can imagine that HMRC may well be very wary about just throwing £200k + back to someone.
I am sure you are legit and by the book, but it wouldn't suprise me if a certain amount of due diligence is going on behind the scenes and you are in a long queue.
Would be nice if they just explained this, in a polite way though.
I am sure you are legit and by the book, but it wouldn't suprise me if a certain amount of due diligence is going on behind the scenes and you are in a long queue.
Would be nice if they just explained this, in a polite way though.
MattsCar said:
I can imagine that HMRC may well be very wary about just throwing £200k + back to someone.
I am sure you are legit and by the book, but it wouldn't suprise me if a certain amount of due diligence is going on behind the scenes and you are in a long queue.
Would be nice if they just explained this, in a polite way though.
Pretty sure that’s normal tbh, apparently the long queue is one guy “ case officer” standard compliance check apparently but he’s took it upon himself to check other returns out with the period being checked I am sure you are legit and by the book, but it wouldn't suprise me if a certain amount of due diligence is going on behind the scenes and you are in a long queue.
Would be nice if they just explained this, in a polite way though.
They're always slower on the refunds, especially large ones.
We used to have it a lot when we were doing big deals between China and Australia then paying commissions to UK parties who were VAT registered.
One was near on £1m and it took months of backwards and forwards with statements from our currency accounts, copies of all invoices from all transactions. They do pay interest though, not that it's much help as in our case all the profit in the deals were in the VAT repayment so we were waiting the best part of a year in one case as the liability was generated early on in the quarter.
They do have special 'case handlers' for large repayments, keep chasing is my advice.
We used to have it a lot when we were doing big deals between China and Australia then paying commissions to UK parties who were VAT registered.
One was near on £1m and it took months of backwards and forwards with statements from our currency accounts, copies of all invoices from all transactions. They do pay interest though, not that it's much help as in our case all the profit in the deals were in the VAT repayment so we were waiting the best part of a year in one case as the liability was generated early on in the quarter.
They do have special 'case handlers' for large repayments, keep chasing is my advice.
Wee update, Mr vat man now arguing we should have been doing reverse charge as a utility contractor.
Pretty sure there is an exemption under
VATREVCON33600
I’m a utility contractor that provides alterations to the existing utility company sgn so I’m not exempt and invoice sgn + vat
I hate the vat man
Pretty sure there is an exemption under
VATREVCON33600
I’m a utility contractor that provides alterations to the existing utility company sgn so I’m not exempt and invoice sgn + vat
I hate the vat man
HMRC have become an utter useless bunch of ##£#@s
Only 10 years ago you got quite good service from them now they're more like a call centre of societies dreggs.
A few years ago they tried to insist I should make a tax payment ( not vat) of circa £100k.
Pointed out to the handler their incorrect understanding and quoted the various sections and case laws to her. Nope she was having none of it. Accountant sent the documentation showing her incorrect interpretation.
Again wouldn't budge but dropped their demand down by about £10k.
I then had specialist tax lawyers get on the case (£450 per hour plus Vat) and again she was right and everybody else wrong.
Finally said I woukd pay the bill under sufferance, we would initiate legal proceedings to reclaim it and would also be looking for costs.
2 days later accepted there was nothing to pay and gave us written confirmation they would not challenge for it again.
Problem is I was left with thousands of pounds in legal and accountancy fees completely unnecessarily. Nothing i could do, just suck it up but even to this day I resent that woman who made me pay thousands in fees because she didn't want to admit she was wrong until threatened with a court hearing.
So i feel your pain !
Only 10 years ago you got quite good service from them now they're more like a call centre of societies dreggs.
A few years ago they tried to insist I should make a tax payment ( not vat) of circa £100k.
Pointed out to the handler their incorrect understanding and quoted the various sections and case laws to her. Nope she was having none of it. Accountant sent the documentation showing her incorrect interpretation.
Again wouldn't budge but dropped their demand down by about £10k.
I then had specialist tax lawyers get on the case (£450 per hour plus Vat) and again she was right and everybody else wrong.
Finally said I woukd pay the bill under sufferance, we would initiate legal proceedings to reclaim it and would also be looking for costs.
2 days later accepted there was nothing to pay and gave us written confirmation they would not challenge for it again.
Problem is I was left with thousands of pounds in legal and accountancy fees completely unnecessarily. Nothing i could do, just suck it up but even to this day I resent that woman who made me pay thousands in fees because she didn't want to admit she was wrong until threatened with a court hearing.
So i feel your pain !
Longy00000 said:
HMRC have become an utter useless bunch of ##£#@s
Only 10 years ago you got quite good service from them now they're more like a call centre of societies dreggs.
A few years ago they tried to insist I should make a tax payment ( not vat) of circa £100k.
Pointed out to the handler their incorrect understanding and quoted the various sections and case laws to her. Nope she was having none of it. Accountant sent the documentation showing her incorrect interpretation.
Again wouldn't budge but dropped their demand down by about £10k.
I then had specialist tax lawyers get on the case (£450 per hour plus Vat) and again she was right and everybody else wrong.
Finally said I woukd pay the bill under sufferance, we would initiate legal proceedings to reclaim it and would also be looking for costs.
2 days later accepted there was nothing to pay and gave us written confirmation they would not challenge for it again.
Problem is I was left with thousands of pounds in legal and accountancy fees completely unnecessarily. Nothing i could do, just suck it up but even to this day I resent that woman who made me pay thousands in fees because she didn't want to admit she was wrong until threatened with a court hearing.
So i feel your pain !
They are incompetent no ifs buts or maybes Only 10 years ago you got quite good service from them now they're more like a call centre of societies dreggs.
A few years ago they tried to insist I should make a tax payment ( not vat) of circa £100k.
Pointed out to the handler their incorrect understanding and quoted the various sections and case laws to her. Nope she was having none of it. Accountant sent the documentation showing her incorrect interpretation.
Again wouldn't budge but dropped their demand down by about £10k.
I then had specialist tax lawyers get on the case (£450 per hour plus Vat) and again she was right and everybody else wrong.
Finally said I woukd pay the bill under sufferance, we would initiate legal proceedings to reclaim it and would also be looking for costs.
2 days later accepted there was nothing to pay and gave us written confirmation they would not challenge for it again.
Problem is I was left with thousands of pounds in legal and accountancy fees completely unnecessarily. Nothing i could do, just suck it up but even to this day I resent that woman who made me pay thousands in fees because she didn't want to admit she was wrong until threatened with a court hearing.
So i feel your pain !
Your man the vat compliance officer has basically said he’s not paying any of our repayment returns until he’s looked at these ones and we’re due further returns in 6 figures after we eventually get these ones paid out
Jokers
Have Mastered Robbing Cash.
They took my mothers accounts, added incoming to outgoing and said that was her profit so the tax bill was huge! Took months to sort that out. Must have been little Timmy on work experience that Friday afternoon.
Sorry, having an HMRC rant rather than VAT but the whole thing is crap. Tax everyone right up to the limit of going out of business, hateful.
They took my mothers accounts, added incoming to outgoing and said that was her profit so the tax bill was huge! Took months to sort that out. Must have been little Timmy on work experience that Friday afternoon.
Sorry, having an HMRC rant rather than VAT but the whole thing is crap. Tax everyone right up to the limit of going out of business, hateful.
Gnits said:
Have Mastered Robbing Cash.
They took my mothers accounts, added incoming to outgoing and said that was her profit so the tax bill was huge! Took months to sort that out. Must have been little Timmy on work experience that Friday afternoon.
Sorry, having an HMRC rant rather than VAT but the whole thing is crap. Tax everyone right up to the limit of going out of business, hateful.
100% correct and don’t blame you for the rant.They took my mothers accounts, added incoming to outgoing and said that was her profit so the tax bill was huge! Took months to sort that out. Must have been little Timmy on work experience that Friday afternoon.
Sorry, having an HMRC rant rather than VAT but the whole thing is crap. Tax everyone right up to the limit of going out of business, hateful.
They owe us a considerable amount of money by anyone’s standards and using every excuse under the sun.
The vat officer dealing with our compliance check has decided he’ll just check other returns whilst he’s at it
And he’s said to our accountant today “ I’ll only pay it when I’m happy it’s due to he paid” w
ker They are intentionally useless. It is a profitable strategy.
Not the larger numbers described above, but I ended up paying about a grand that I knew I shouldn’t be paying just because it was easier than arguing the case with them.
This is just little Old me multiply that across the country and I’m sure that figure Adds up to a nice amount
Not the larger numbers described above, but I ended up paying about a grand that I knew I shouldn’t be paying just because it was easier than arguing the case with them.
This is just little Old me multiply that across the country and I’m sure that figure Adds up to a nice amount
jonamv8 said:
They are intentionally useless. It is a profitable strategy.
Not the larger numbers described above, but I ended up paying about a grand that I knew I shouldn t be paying just because it was easier than arguing the case with them.
This is just little Old me multiply that across the country and I m sure that figure Adds up to a nice amount
They are incompetent to a man is my belief Not the larger numbers described above, but I ended up paying about a grand that I knew I shouldn t be paying just because it was easier than arguing the case with them.
This is just little Old me multiply that across the country and I m sure that figure Adds up to a nice amount
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