Taxman 'fined' £500 by H W Vaughan

A Swansea-based firm has won £500 from the taxman after a struggling company had to wait months for a £15,000 refund.

H W Vaughan said it completed the relevant forms for the repayment last December, but then faced a series of delays in trying to secure the money.

'The query was passed between different HMRC employees and paperwork went missing on several occasions,' H W Vaughan said in a statement.

The client finally received the rebate last month, but not before H W Vaughan had paid for numerous additional letters and phone calls in addition to staff time.

H W Vaughan partner Russell Halliday then demanded a further £500 to cover the costs arising from the delay, which HMRC agreed to pay.

Halliday said: 'We kept being passed around departments, everyone was blaming everyone else, and some paperwork had to be sent three times – there’s simply no excuse for that kind of delay.'

Further reading:

HMRC tax refunds taking too long