Postby etf » Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:53 pm
Lambs-I'll stick with my original strapline-see feedback from frustrated Joe Public below (got to be worth a knighthood for introducing this system):
Posted 15 days ago by Beverley Gee
I wonder how many more of us are experiencing this? I have wasted hours and hours trying to verify my ID. I found out I could do it through Barclays and then discovered they stopped on May 20th. I have talked to advisers, interacted with the Helpdesk, written letters, tried the Post Office and Digidentity all to no avail. I've lived here for 19 years but because my phone contract is not with Three or O2, because I only have one debit card and no passport, apparently I don't exist.
I will continue sending my Tax Return on a paper form because I have no other option.
The irony is that I used to help my accountant step-father submit his clients' returns for years. Probably hundreds of them. Yet I am unable to do my own. And it all began with a change of mobile phone number.
The system is not working, HMRC. Time to fix it. Do it the easy way - send me a letter.
Beverley Gee
I have to agree that Verify thing is the worst system that I have ever experienced and you are certaily not alone.
If anything was ever designed to be anti-Self Assessment user, then this is it.
The good news is that you do exist for the purpose of paying tax, but as for encouraging people to go online, paperless, it has failed dismally.
Complain to your MP.
Out there somewhere is the perfect person that manages to get though Gov Verify in 24-hours, gets no hassle and wonders what all the fuss is about.
It would be easier if you had some form and could use your fingerprint.
Unfortunately, with no local tax offices, you hit the full brick wall of Government nit-picking.
For what it's worth, all my troubles revolved around mobile phone contracts.
They asked me when I had last taken out a mobile phone contract.
Easy. I had taken out a SIM only contract with BT Mobile in November 2018. Not a pay as you go SIM from Tesco or whatever.
So BT Mobile in November 2018 was definitely the last contract and still is.
But not according to Gov Verify.
Every attempt to log in failed.
Eventually I managed to get the assistance of a Digital Complaints Manager who went through all the questions and what I was entering and was able to tell me where it was going wrong, but not what the right answer to the question.
So I had to start guessing - remember, they choose the questions, not you. If it something that happened in the dim and distant past, you could be in trouble. If your memory is starting to fade a bit, you can be in real trouble.
All I can suggest is persevere and try and get hold of someone who knows the workings of this system.
If I had had a tax office within reasonable distance, I would have camped out on their front door step until I did get an answer.
Individually, the HMRC manager and Experian were quite good - the trouble is they don't talk to each other, at least not at our level