ESC A19 Please Help!!!!

[garthy]

I have received Tax bills for underpaid tax for 2008 - 9, 2009 - 10 & 2010 - 11. I am an NHS nurse and worked many extra hours to save for a deposit for a house. This caused me to enter the higher earnings 40% bracket and I did not realise HMRC were still only taking 20%, they now want the additional 20%!!! I asked for the tax to be given up under ESC A19 as it was more than 12 months after the end of the tax year that they informed me. They said no because they had 24 months. I then asked for the tax to be given up under ESC A19 as they had allowed this to happen 2 consecutive years or more and had failed to act on information received. They have still said no, because they say P14's do not count as information under ESC A19 and have said they have 4 years to act on P 14's.

They have sent me 15 different tax codes in the past 15 months and say this is due to my multiple employments, I have 2 jobs. They will not explain what each and every code relates to despite me asking and will not explain what this means financially and which job each code relates to.There are no payroll numbers on the codes, so I don't understand them.

The initial calculation they sent me for an underpayment of over £500 they then said was wrong and said they owed me £90, I then questioned other years which then opened this 'can of worms.' They also said I underpaid in 2010 - 11 by over £700, but now they are saying I have overpaid by £250!!! For 2008 - 09 and 2009 - 10 HMRC said I owed £1800 and said they would amend my tax code and begin taking this back Apr - 11 - Apr 12. However, they began taking extra tax from Oct 10 onwards. Despite my ongoing appeal they have continued to take the extra tax and have recently replied to my 4th letter to the Complaints Manager saying the tax will not be given up and the next step is the Adjudicator.

They have now clawed back all the money, but still continue to take extra tax and with regard to 2010 - 11 saying in their recent letter I had overpaid and would receive a coding notice under seperate cover, I was sent a coding notice and calculation from a different office saying I still owed over £1800 and they will continue taking extra in 2012 - 2013.

I am absolutely at my wits end with all of this, they just don't seem to be listening to what I say, I have had a mountain of differing correspondence from different tax offices all at odds with each other. HMRC now owe me nearly £500 for taking too much and intend to continue taking extra!!!!!! What should I do?????? Inform the Adjudicator of all of this, have a face to face meeting with HMRC???

My partner and I have a newborn baby and we are really struggling financially, especially now HMRC have had their money, but are insistent they have not and intend to take more!!!!

Please help!!!

Kind Regards

Garthy.

[mullet]

What should I do?????? Inform the Adjudicator of all of this, have a face to face meeting with HMRC???

You will be lucky to get a meeting with HMRC, although I don't know what it would achieve. They do have difficulty in dealing with multiple employments, and appears that one of more of your jobs should have been taxed at D0 (40%). Remember that PAYE is only a way of deducting money on account of the final tax bill for the year, and that there have been over and under payments since time immemorial. It happens more often nowadays because of people having multiple employments and moving job more often than (say) 20 or 30 years ago.

Whilst it is obvious that you are upset with HMRC, the simple fact is that you have had the money through being under-taxed. I can see the point about having 4 years to deal with P14s (this is the "normal" time limit for issuing an assessment), although I don't think it's unreasonable for you to expect them to deal with an under or overpayment by the end of the following tax year - especially with their new computer system which is meant to deal with a person as a single entity and pull all sources of income together onto one computer record.

You are following the right channels - complaints procedure then the adjudicator. But I fear that the final answer may simply be for you to accept the liability. Good luck.

[AvocadoK]

It does seems as if the underpayment arises because of the second job.

Taking the NHS job first, you mention that you have gone into higher rate because you are working overtime. The PAYE system will take account of the extra earnings, and should collect the right amount of tax on that job. If the wrong amount was deducted, (which is unlikely), then the employer is to blame.

Taking the second job next, the way the system normally works is that the employer will deduct basic rate tax, with no allowances. In your case, basic rate tax was not enough, so not enough tax was deducted. An underpayment this arose.

The key question is, was that underpayment of tax due to HMRC's failure to deal with information it has received from you, or your employer to the extent that it affects your coding. The answer - within the terms of the concession - seems to be 'no', and that is why they will not refund the tax. This seems harsh, but as mullet says, it is a result of the way PAYE works, and because the old PAYE system was never really designed to cope with multiple jobs. Hopefully the shift to the new system will help avoid these situations happening so often.

You have my sympathy, and if I thought that HMRC was misapplying the concesssion, I would gladly help you. As it is, I think the adjudicator is the right road for you to go down.

Regards
AK

[garthy]

Thanks Mullet & A.K. It just seems they are a law unto themselves, they have made significant errors and continue to do so, but feel they are in no way accountable and it is all 'my' fault. They chop & change their mind regarding whether I owe them money or vice versa, ignore my requests to explain the 15 different tax codes and now intend to continue to take additional tax for the next 15 months despite the fact they have now clawed back the underpayment............