UK HMRC saying that I have not paid my tax and I have been issued big fines. Help.

[Katrin174]

Hi,

I have recently recieved a large fine from the HMRC stating that I had not paid my 2013-2014 tax and then have not submitted my tax return or paid my tax for 2014-2015. During this time I was working as a contractor for a company and I paid an accountant to sort out my tax returns for me. I have spoken to my accountant who says he was unable to sumbit the tax return for 2014-2015 because even though he had requested a PAYE code to submit it, he heard nothing from the HMRC and still cannot give in my tax return without it. He also said he has filed an apeal for me to dispute this but when I rang the HMRC myself they say they havent recieved anything from him.

Also the tax payment for last year was paid by myself on March 2014. I followed the directions of the letter I had recieved and made two card payments on the HMRC website before the tax deadline. I do not have a copy of the reciept however the transactions appears on an old bank statement with the date and the payment of £890 plus an additional £80 to HM Revenue and customs. When I rang them explaining this they said that the have no recollection of this payment and have asked me for specific details such as the account number that the transaction was sent to. As I only have a downloaded statement I cannot see this info and my online banking only goes back 90 days so I dont know how to get the info they need to proove that Ive already paid.

Finally I have saved all my reciepts from my accountant which show my payments and summarise the work he has said he has done. This includes a 'tax return submission' which obviously lead me to believe that everything was already sorted. He did not inform me that he was having problems sending my tax return and I only found out after recieving a massive fine.

What would you suggest I do in regard to the accountant and to prooving to HMRC that I have already paid. Will they still be able to fine me if I can proove the money was sent correctly and on time.

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear about the problems you've been having, it sounds like you accountant has really let you down here. From a legal point of view, it is the responsibility of the tax payer to make sure that all returns are filed and all tax is paid on time, even if you have an accountant. I'm not trying to excuse their actions, I just want you to understand that HMRC will not automatically absolve you from blame just because your accountant was meant to do the work.

I would get in touch with your bank to get the details of the payments made to HMRC, and then forward the information to HMRC. You might need to also write a grovelling apology to HMRC in the hope that they will reduce or remove the fines that have been levied - if I were you I would explain that you tried your best to make sure that everything was done correctly, and as far as you were aware your accountant had filed everything on your behalf, and once you found out that this was not the case you have done everything in your power to fix it.

Separately, if you paid your accountant to complete work which they have not done, then it might be worth taking action through the small claims court to recover the fees you paid to them for the work.

Hope this helps!

 

[Fidget]

Interestingly enough, I'm in battle with HMRC at the moment too over 2013/14 tax return. It's a comedy of errors on their part.

First they send the main return back saying supplementary pages were missing, and fining me £100 as the missing pages meant late submission. So I sent it back to them, with 'missing pages' included and filled in the appeal form as well. Then, the 'missing pages' arrive in the post from HMRC stating that the main tax return is missing and therefore cannot be processed and I'm being fined for late submission. Couldn't make it up!!

Then I get a letter saying no tax return submitted, so fine applies. So that's 3 fines for the same tax return that they already had on time and sent back to me in bits and pieces.

It's been going on for ages now. And just today, I've sent it all back to them again. The beauty of this time is that the whole lot of it is on their copy paper that they've sent back to me, so going to be interesting to see how they can uphold their claim they've never received something that by virtue of being printed on HMRC's own copy paper, means they did receive it.

Good ol' HMRC - or HMArsey, might be more appropriate.

 

[Katrin174]

Its just a nightmare. Thank you for the advice, I am sick of my accountant. He seems to be avoiding me and every time I phone I am told that he is not there and will call back tomorrow then never does. I rang hmrc with the evidence of the payment and they are now saying that even though I have paid the money the tax return was not submitted in 2013-2014 or 2014-2015. I have reciepts from my accountant stating that these were submitted on time and I have paid him and now I find out he has dont nothing that he has claimed to have done. How can I go about making a complaint about him? And to whom do I make the complaint?

 

[Becky]

How can I go about making a complaint about him? And to whom do I make the complaint?

It would depend on which accounting body he is registered with - check his website or any documentation you have received from him. If he is registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW) then here is the information you need: Make a complaint to ICAEW