HMRC rant

Haych

As a single parent I kind of rely on tax credits to make ends meet.  I've been claiming as a single parent now since my wife left me three and a half years ago.

For whatever reason, I don't know, I got a letter on May 31st from a HMRC third party, Concentrix, stating that they believed my tax credits claim was dodgy and they thought I was living with somebody but still claiming as a single person.

They requested much paperwork in the form of solicitors letters, decree absolute from the divorce, all utility bills for the last 12 months, bank statements for the last tax year and a whole host of other stuff.  Because I'm pretty organised I was able to collate the requested paperwork and I popped it in the post the next day by special delivery.

Since then I've heard nothing!  So I tried phoning HMRC yesterday evening.  The first chap I spoke to could not have displayed any more contempt if he tried and he disconnected the call simply because he misheard my national insurance number and pulled up somebody else records!  Total unmentionable!

I phoned back and spoke to another HMRC advisor who told me they had nothing on file back from Concentric and that I'd have to call them the next day.  

 So this morning I called Concentrix and asked for an update on their investigation.  I was told by a polite Irish chap called Michael that they had not received the information requested but that I shouldn't worry because it sometimes takes a few days to be scanned into their system.  

I pointed out to Michael that I sent the information on 1st June by Special Delivery and that his explanation was not good enough.  Not only are my tax credits going cease on 29th June but many of the documents requested and sent were originals that I need back; if they haven't scanned them in the last 17 days my confidence in waiting another 12 day on the chance they might find all my documentation and process the 'investigation' in time is not great.  So I asked to speak to a manager.

Tony was again a nice enough chap but the only thing he could do was add the Special Delivery tracking number to the case file and state that tax credits should not stop since I've provided them with proof that the documentation was sent and delivered.

Now, who would like to wager that I get a letter from HMRC in about two weeks stating that my tax credit payments are about to cease because I haven't submitted the requested paperwork in time?

Watch this space!

joeyowen

They are fundamentally useless, and you will struggle to find people that will argue against that

chillidoggy

They're a bunch of cunts, the lot of them, and I wish you well in your dealings with their utter incompetence.

Sporky

Last year they decided I was working two jobs and put me on super double secret probation - left just £100 in my pay that month. Horrible, stupid people. Hope you get it sorted.

Flink_Poyd

Utterly useless. I stopped receiving them a year or so ago but get a statement every year saying I've been overpaid by £600 and it needs paying back. They underpaid and overpaid me without any real explanation so I refuse to pay it until they provide a good reason other than they think they might have fucked up. I feel like they've just plucked a figure out of the air. I honestly don't dare calculate how much time and money I wasted calling them to resolve problems.

chillidoggy

Their finest hour for me was when a immediate demand for underpaid tax of about £3,500 landed on the doorstep. Apparently, it was down to me to make sure I was paying the correct tax. As a generalisation, I would agree, but I argued it was their job to apply to rules as to precisely how much.

It all got a bit heated, and after telling them that I was looking forward to going to a tribunal to reveal to one and all what a bunch of cunts they are, they suddenly decided I didn't owe quite that much, knocked a grand off, and the old me I could pay it off over two years in my tax coding.

Twats.

cacophony

the single most inept, incompetant and clueless bunch of people on the planet.

i used to be self employed and had so many `run-ins` with these clowns i could write a book.

amongst some of my faves:- 

fining me 100 quid for late return. then finally admitting that i had returned on time , and a manager basically admitting that they send out random 100 quid fines to self employed people/ companies because most just pay up as they can't be doing with the hassle. nice little earner there!

losing my tax return, and fining me another 100, despite admitting they got my wife's return, which was sent by registered post, in the same envelope as mine!.

i'll stop there as i'm actually starting to get angry!.

absolute, complete and utter wankers.

and ...  breathe.

Fortheloveofguitar

Have a look at Google about concentrix

They completely pick you at random with zero evidence of what they're claiming against you

HMRC are trying to get the as many people off benefits as they can and have now outsourced all the work to concentrix

This company just picks people at random and makes stupid false allegations against them and even when proved wrong they will still cut the persons tax credits as its all about targets

Single parents are the one go for first always staring they believe that you're living with a partner that you've not declared

After that they go for the self employed

RiftAmps

There was a Concentrix whistleblower who wrote an anonymous article for an online magazine, struggling to find it now...will post later. He said that they are under so much pressure to reduce WTC that they simply send out X amount of "we think you're dodgy" letters every day in the hope that someone will shit themselves scared and stop claiming/own up.

We had the exact same letter a few years ago, turned out that the previous tenant of our flat hadn't updated his address with work and was still paying income tax registered at this address. Of course, that didn't stop HMRC from pausing our payments for 5 months whilst they investigated everything, plus asking us to pay back a £1000 overpayment for the period that he was 'living with us'.

Eventually got it all sorted, bloody nightmare though.t

hotpot

Absolute tossers, they lost TWO sets of paperwork I sent them which in turn took them seven fucking months to sort out my tax problem (which concerned a large amount of tax wrongly taken) instead of a few weeks Grrrr. I hope I never ever have to deal with these pricks again.

Haych

Brief update:

Concentrix, the waste of space third party hired by HMRC to handle this kind of nonsense, still do not have the documentation I submitted.

They have acknowledged receipt (by proxy of the special delivery tracking reference only) and only now (one day before the deadline) have the initiated an internal search for the documents.

Livid is not the word.  Not only have they delayed the whole fiasco but my financial status and history is goodness knows where.  There is enough information contained within to steal my life, never mind my identity.

Oh, and the onus is on me to phone back next week to find out if they've managed to find it or not.

Is there any way I can escalate this and at the same time highlight their incompetence?

boogieman

chillidoggy;1115128" said:

Their finest hour for me was when a immediate demand for underpaid tax of about £3,500 landed on the doorstep. Apparently, it was down to me to make sure I was paying the correct tax. As a generalisation, I would agree, but I argued it was their job to apply to rules as to precisely how much.

It all got a bit heated, and after telling them that I was looking forward to going to a tribunal to reveal to one and all what a bunch of cunts they are, they suddenly decided I didn't owe quite that much, knocked a grand off, and the old me I could pay it off over two years in my tax coding.

Twats.

Similar situation to my wife when she was working for the NHS. HRMC suddenly decided she'd been underpaying her tax for the last couple of years and claimed a huge amount back in one hit from her wages. So she got zero pay that month, literally nothing. Of course she queried it with her pay company (outsourced by the NHS of course, so another useless shower of know- nothing shite) who "couldn't help". HRMC basically told her it was her job to realise she'd not been paying enough tax and refused to budge: in fact she still owed them nearly £2k in back tax. Luckily she got this sorted by having her code adjusted.

By the way, this was the week before Christmas. Luckily she didn't have a mortgage to pay or a family to support and she had savings to fall back on, otherwise she would have been royally screwed.

Nitefly

Haych said:

Is there any way I can escalate this and at the same time highlight their incompetence?

Dunno if they deal with tax issues, but might be worth trying the Financial Ombudsman?

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Bogwhoppit

Concentrix  are to the HMRC what Capita and Atos are to the DWP - mercenary bastards

chillidoggy

boogieman said:

chillidoggy;1115128" said:

Their finest hour for me was when a immediate demand for underpaid tax of about £3,500 landed on the doorstep. Apparently, it was down to me to make sure I was paying the correct tax. As a generalisation, I would agree, but I argued it was their job to apply to rules as to precisely how much.

It all got a bit heated, and after telling them that I was looking forward to going to a tribunal to reveal to one and all what a bunch of cunts they are, they suddenly decided I didn't owe quite that much, knocked a grand off, and the old me I could pay it off over two years in my tax coding.

Twats.

Similar situation to my wife when she was working for the NHS. HRMC suddenly decided she'd been underpaying her tax for the last couple of years and claimed a huge amount back in one hit from her wages. So she got zero pay that month, literally nothing. Of course she queried it with her pay company (outsourced by the NHS of course, so another useless shower of know- nothing shite) who "couldn't help". HRMC basically told her it was her job to realise she'd not been paying enough tax and refused to budge: in fact she still owed them nearly £2k in back tax. Luckily she got this sorted by having her code adjusted.

By the way, this was the week before Christmas. Luckily she didn't have a mortgage to pay or a family to support and she had savings to fall back on, otherwise she would have been royally screwed.

They really are bell-ends of the highest order.

There's some ruling that once the tax you owe goes over a certain amount (maybe £2K, but not sure), then they're not allowed to take it back through the PAYE coding system, hence the demands. You can decide to challenge it, or pay it back over 1, 2 or 3 years. I chose to challenge it, but they drive a hard bargain.

Thing is, I have no problem at all in paying tax, I just want them to ensure it's the correct amount, and they're shite at it. The other thing is that pay departments these days just get told what employees tax codes are by e-mail from HMRC, and they can no longer argue the toss like they used to when they thought it might be wrong.

And while I'm on the soapbox, isn't it odd that their mistakes are never in your favour?