HMRC Automated Phone System

[Matty]

You can, but I needed to find out why they thought I had two jobs and I was being taxed on a figure that I wished that I earnt

Although you did remind me to log in and check.
"Why your tax code has changed:
- Your employment with X has ended
- Your emplyment with Y has started
- Your employment with Y has ended
You now have 1 employment"

Erm, no. I don't know what this mystical job they think I have....but it ain't with my new employer apparently.

[Jimmy Choo]

I think my record is 2 hours on hold. They're chronically understaffed so just don't have the capacity to deal with anything.

I had a lovely example last year when HMRC didn't update the company's Direct Debit and fined us £12k. I appealed it online but it came down to a multiple choice question that there wasn't a correct answer for. "Computer says no, give us our money".

So I sent it to tribunal which is run by the Ministry of Justice. I prepared all our evidence, submitted it and waited for the hearing. When HMRC submitted their response, it was laughable! It stopped halfway through a sentence, they hadn't submitted what they claimed to have and it was a mess.

The response from Justice was a beautiful bitchslap that basically translated as "get your act together and don't waste my fucking time with this amateur bullshit." HMRC's response was to withdraw the claim and refund us. While it had been a pain in the arse and had burned up lots of my time, it was utterly worth it for the response from Justice.

[DeskJockey]

Just to round it off. Woke up to a notification from the HMRC app notifying me of a message. Message told me to claim my refund, which took all of 30 seconds. Money should be in the bank no later than Friday.

Can't fault the service apart from the initial issue.

[Delphi]

HMRC recently wrote to me to announce they were fining me for not filing a tax return (that they never asked for) and I have confirmation from them telling me I didn't need to file one. I appealed online as the queue was massive, and a month later got a letter saying they were cancelling the fine and I didn't need to submit any further returns. The letter also stated to ignore any future requests to fill out a tax return. Two weeks later, I got a letter saying I needed to submit a tax return!

[dinny_g]

The incompetence is mind boggling..

During my "Massive Bill, sorry, here's a Massive Refund" debacle, received 5 different letters saying I owed £x and on the same day, I would log onto the HMRC site to be told I owe £y. Never matched and never equal to the amount I had to pay...