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13 Mar 2009
HM Revenue and Customs has issued thousands of incorrect penalty notices for late personal and partnership tax returns, Baker Tilly has claimed.
The mid-tier firm said clients whose returns were filed before the 31 January deadline received incorrect notices, and when contacted by the firm's representatives, HMRC said the complaint would be 'added to the growing pile.'
George Bull, national head of tax at Baker Tilly, said taxpayers don't need additional financial stress in what is already a difficult time for many.
'The £100 penalty, albeit small financially, can turn into a major administrative burden. Judging by the complaints we have already received, and the feedback from the HMRC, this problem could affect thousands of taxpayers,' he said.
According to Bull, the same problem occured in April 2008 when the department acknowledged that complications with the online filing system had caused them to issue penalty notices in error.
'Taxpayers are being caused unnecessary worry and expense by HMRC's inability to get this right,' he said.
A spokesman for HMRC said: 'We apologise to any of our customers who have received a penalty notice in error. There is no question of anyone having to pay a penalty if their return was filed on time. When a penalty notice has been issued in error we will apologise and put matters right straight away. The penalty notice itself tells people what to do if they do not know why they have received a penalty notice.'
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Visitor comments Add your comment
Incorrect penalty notices
HMRC should pay £100 for each incorrect penalty notice it issued. Tax payers have to pay penalties if they make an incorrect return
Posted by: Harish, 13 Mar 2009 | 00:00
Join the Club
We have scores of clients who have received incorrect penalty notices where we hold acknowledgements of online filing - to add insult to injury we have actually also received one for our own partnership return....
Posted by: Robert walker, 13 Mar 2009 | 00:00
What happens if not queried?
Just to be clear, what happens if the penalty is paid and not queried by the taxpayer?
There's a big difference between sending incorrect notices and keeping the money if the taxpayer fails to contest it.
I guess the question can be rephrased to ask whether the penalty is being applied or it's simply a case of a mistake in the correspondence systems.
Posted by: Dave, 13 Mar 2009 | 00:00
SURPRISE SURPRISE
Well I can't believe it HMRC making a mistake!!! The whole system is a shambols and the Government should be suing the geeks who wrote the software. It's not the first time after all, we are still picking up the pieces of the corporate CIS refunds that went in the blackhole known as "QS2" in the spring of 2007!!
This again certainly qualifies for compensation to be paid directly to the agent as it is a national problem. Get your claims in now, it could solve your own credit crunch.
Posted by: Ian Gillard, 14 Mar 2009 | 00:00
Another HMRC Debacle!
There are three partners in our small business.
We filed all of our returns on the 10th Jan, Paid our taxes on 16th with the cheques cashed on the 19th.
Two of us have been issued "Late Partnership Filing" penalties whilst the other recieved an £800 Overpayment notice.
Posted by: Geoff, 14 Mar 2009 | 00:00
Count trusts in as well
It would appear a significant number of trust cases have been incorrectly logged as paper returns and hence penalties issued......
Posted by: HD, 16 Mar 2009 | 00:00
public service and private rewards collide
Dare we suggest that Government targets and employee bonuses could be involved here - cock up or conspiracy theorists start here
Posted by: Rob, 26 Mar 2009 | 00:00
cor blimey-slippery slope of 'not fit for purpose'
3 telephone conversations followed by one attaching letter(written more in hope) well before time,and 1 new partnership gets 2 £100 penalties.in addition in the last year there is a 100% record of hmrc attaching £100 penalties to paper returns submitted within time.it would appear from the returned 2-7 day responses that they are automatically generated anyway,so unless it is successfully submitted on line,presumably it requires a complaint to identify and manually readjust-after of course you have had a potential heart attack and your client perceives incompetence-cor blimey referee what a load of nonsense and stress and time wasting-every time i am assured that the attachment of an erroneous penalty is a rare occurence,yet to date their systems hold an 100% record in faulty allocations,which makes the 'cock up' theory of life suspect.
Posted by: phillipe phlop, 08 Apr 2009 | 00:00