Tax rebate eight months overdue

Jun 5 2011 Mr Justice, Sunday Sun

THE taxman has still not coughed up a rebate promised to a reader in October.

I revealed two months ago how Leslie Reynoldson was promised almost £1300, but he has not seen a penny.

At the time, HMRC told me they would contact Leslie in a bid to resolve the complaint.

But I can reveal that Leslie still does not have his money.

Remember the case? HMRC were going to pay the money to Leslie’s agent but he lost contact with him, asked the tax people for help, and the refund was supposed to be made directly to him.

Leslie has still been unable to contact his agent.

He said: “I waited weeks and weeks before ringing HMRC to see what was happening.

“I was told someone would ‘chase it up’ but they have said the same thing again and again. More phone calls, spoke to someone more senior, and more promises to look into it.”

By this time, weeks and weeks had turned into months and months without any payment.

A spokeswoman for HMRC said at the time: “We are unable to discuss individual cases for reasons of taxpayer confidentiality.

“This matter has been logged with our official complaints team who will endeavour to contact the customer directly to discuss and hopefully resolve this issue.” I expressed a wish that they would leap into action a lot quicker but, alas, it was not to be.

HMRC said they still needed more time to investigate.

Bosses admitted in a letter to Leslie that they had calculated a rebate of £1295 for the tax year 2009-2010.

However, the payment was selected for a security check and was recalled.

They said: “The main principle of self assessment is that we process now and check later. We aim to ensure that any amounts overpaid are repaid to our customers as soon as possible.

“However, when the results of the risk assessment process indicates that we need to examine a case more closely, it would be inappropriate to make the repayment without making further enquiries.”

Leslie, of Stanley, County Durham, has send the additional information required by HMRC and is still waiting to hear back from them.