Tax refund gone wrong
Discussion
I'm a train driver. One of the guys in the Mess came in and said he'd got a tax refund from one of the big companies, you'd probably recognise the name, I knew them from my Army days.
Apparently because we don't have our breaks in one location we can claim for food expenses. I believe this to be true but as it caught on apparently HMRC pushed back. This company then emailed some of us to say they were not going to pursue our claims any further and they closed our accounts with them. I'd say about half got a payout, half got the sorry emails.
Anyway today I got 3 fines for late self assessment for the last 3 years.
This company have washed their hands of it and left us to deal with it ourselves. None of us would have bothered to do it if we'd known the hassle it would cause.
Surely the onus is on them to fix whatever they've screwed up? They were acting as our accountants no?
Wondering if there's any legislation or professional standards or body I can quote to get them to do the legwork?
Or do I just have to suck it up and appeal the fines myself.
Apparently because we don't have our breaks in one location we can claim for food expenses. I believe this to be true but as it caught on apparently HMRC pushed back. This company then emailed some of us to say they were not going to pursue our claims any further and they closed our accounts with them. I'd say about half got a payout, half got the sorry emails.
Anyway today I got 3 fines for late self assessment for the last 3 years.
This company have washed their hands of it and left us to deal with it ourselves. None of us would have bothered to do it if we'd known the hassle it would cause.
Surely the onus is on them to fix whatever they've screwed up? They were acting as our accountants no?
Wondering if there's any legislation or professional standards or body I can quote to get them to do the legwork?
Or do I just have to suck it up and appeal the fines myself.
Muzzer79 said:
I'm confused.
You have used a company to claim for a tax break on a specific expense.
HMRC have fined you for late submission of self-assessment.
Surely the two things are completely seperate? The company you've used will not be responsible for submitting your self-assessment on time - you are?
They definitely are. You have used a company to claim for a tax break on a specific expense.
HMRC have fined you for late submission of self-assessment.
Surely the two things are completely seperate? The company you've used will not be responsible for submitting your self-assessment on time - you are?
I've never submitted a self assessment in my life. It stems from whatever they've done.
alscar said:
ChocolateFrog said:
They definitely are.
I've never submitted a self assessment in my life. It stems from whatever they've done.
Did you have a written contract or agreement with these people ?I've never submitted a self assessment in my life. It stems from whatever they've done.
Presumably you had nothing in the form of any papers from HMRC over the previous 3 year period ?
They certainly don’t sound like accountants so perhaps they aren’t and you have been unfortunately misled - did you hand them any money for so called fees ? I
Only contact from HMRC was a letter saying my tax code had changed.
Bluequay said:
If they were appointed as his tax agent then the correspondence requesting the self assessment would have gone to them.
Appoint someone to deal with HMRC on your behalf
You can authorise someone else to deal with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for you, for example an accountant, friend or relative.
If you have to fill in a Self Assessment tax return, HMRC will send all correspondence to the person you’ve authorised - except tax bills or refunds. Otherwise, HMRC will continue to write to you.
I assume everything did go to them.Appoint someone to deal with HMRC on your behalf
You can authorise someone else to deal with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for you, for example an accountant, friend or relative.
If you have to fill in a Self Assessment tax return, HMRC will send all correspondence to the person you’ve authorised - except tax bills or refunds. Otherwise, HMRC will continue to write to you.
The only thing that's come to me are the fines.
Edible Roadkill said:
You need to find out from HMRC what they expected you to file for SA. Could it have been earnings over the child benefit threshold 50-60k or over the 100k threshold which automatically means you need to complete SA ?
No. I've only done over 50k very recently and even then with pension contributions and a SS car I'm actually back below 50k. LastPoster said:
ChocolateFrog said:
Apparently because we don't have our breaks in one location we can claim for food expenses. I believe this to be true but as it caught on apparently HMRC pushed back. <Snip>
To take it back a step, I don't believe that you can claim tax relief for food expenses unless it's connected to overnight stays or business travel. Train driver would have travel as a function of the role, not incidental. Or you can claim to replace a meal typically taken at home. So a day time worker cannot claim for lunch regardless of hours, but could claim an evening meal if they worked until 11pm ad-hoc. A shift worker could not claim for meals during shift, but could if an emergency took them well past the end of the shift.Eric Mc said:
If you are late submitting a tax return, the INITIAL fine is £100 but it can ramp up to a maximum of £1,800 per return.
The important thing is not to bury your head in the sand. Find out -
a) why they asked you to submit a tax return
b) where they sent the tax return letters (HMRC don't always get it right)
c) was a Self Assessment tax return really appropriate in your circumstances
Contrary to what some people have said here, just because someone is taxed 100% through PAYE does not mean that they are exempted from having to submit self assessment tax returns. PAYE does not always cope well with certain situations and sometimes completing a tax return is not only necessary, but also the best way to resolve a situation.
Thanks good advice.The important thing is not to bury your head in the sand. Find out -
a) why they asked you to submit a tax return
b) where they sent the tax return letters (HMRC don't always get it right)
c) was a Self Assessment tax return really appropriate in your circumstances
Contrary to what some people have said here, just because someone is taxed 100% through PAYE does not mean that they are exempted from having to submit self assessment tax returns. PAYE does not always cope well with certain situations and sometimes completing a tax return is not only necessary, but also the best way to resolve a situation.
£300 isn't the end of the world. If I have to I'll suck it up and chalk it up to experience. It just feels a little unjust the way I've been dropped in it.
Just to close this out.
I spoke to HMRC this morning and the lovely lady cancelled Self Assessments for the last 3 years and going forward and also cancelled the fines.
Think I'd just got into the mentality that the company should sort out the mess they made but in the end other than the 45 mins on hold HMRC were great.
Thanks to Eric MC for the long chat and advice, it's what I love most about PH.
For interest I've screenshotted a couple of snippets, one from the 1st email and one from one of the last emails. t
ts didn't follow through on that last bit, too much effort no doubt.
I spoke to HMRC this morning and the lovely lady cancelled Self Assessments for the last 3 years and going forward and also cancelled the fines.
Think I'd just got into the mentality that the company should sort out the mess they made but in the end other than the 45 mins on hold HMRC were great.
Thanks to Eric MC for the long chat and advice, it's what I love most about PH.
For interest I've screenshotted a couple of snippets, one from the 1st email and one from one of the last emails. t
ts didn't follow through on that last bit, too much effort no doubt.Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff