What happened to all the fine promises of Better Together?
Where is Gordon Brown?
Where is Alistair Darling?
Showing posts with label Tax Offices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tax Offices. Show all posts
Thursday, 18 February 2016
BUT YOU PROMISED US...
What happened to all the fine promises of Better Together?
Where is Gordon Brown?
Where is Alistair Darling?
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
THE COMPLETELY EXPECTED HITS YOU BETWEEN THE EYES
Surprise, Surprise.
A new computer system at the Inland Revenue has resulted in mistakes in tax deductions for tens for thousands of people, many of whom have been left out of pocket until the money can be refunded. Pensioners, whose tax codes are complex, are as you might expect, among those worst hit.
People have had their personal tax allowances removed and been placed on higher tax codes or even had a '1' inserted in front of their salary, putting their taxable income by £100,000.
The Revenue has also admitted its call centres are "exceptionally busy" and that callers "are finding it difficult to get through to an adviser" and some have been disconnected before they can report their problems. Nice service guys. That’s what we pay you for NOT. Note to George....Sort it!
Although the problem first came to light in January, so it can hardly be blamed on the current government, HMRC has never publicly disclosed how many people had been affected. However, it is now reckoned that there could be up to 100,000 people affected in total.
Despite the awful service from the call centre, employers are still being advised that if they have enquiries from employees or pensioners about this to ask them to contact the Revenue in the usual way,....so that they can be ignored, or rather cut off after they have struggled through countless mechanical exercises in getting to the correct destination.
HMRC said that more customers had been contacting them because they wanted to query the coding used in their April pay packets. Noooooo, surely not?
They said: "We are aware that some customers, because of the increase in demand, are finding it
difficult to get through to an adviser and we apologise for this and are doing all we can to meet the need.
"Inevitably at busy times we may be unable to answer all our calls. We are working hard to maintain a good customer service. We know, for instance, that some customers have been frustrated by being disconnected after they have been through the … messaging system, but before they speak to an adviser. We are now taking new measures to help prevent this from happening."
Actually it’s not really “inevitable” at all, and I can’t see why they think it would be. They knew about this mistake in January. They might reasonably have expected that if they didn’t fix it by April there would be a high demand for their service from confused, frustrated and sometime seriously worried “customers” or taxpayers as ordinary people would call them. So really the only inevitability is that they could expect one hell of a lot of complaints.
It begs the question ... why didn’t they prepare for this....?
The problem, needless to say, comes from the introduction of a new system, which combines information on National Insurance contributions and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) for the first time. But in some cases the system has incorrect information about earnings, m
eaning some people incorrectly being placed in the wrong tax band.
HMRC admitted the number affected was unknown because staff were not recording how many cases they had dealt with. Or maybe they just don’t want us to know how badly they have messed up...
I’ve dealt with the Revenue and frankly it gets about 6 out of 10 for politeness. but 2 out of 10 for reliability. My experience was that nothing gets done till you push and push and get cross. Then it gets done wrong and you have to start all over again.
I wish the people who have been wrongly coded the very best of luck in trying to get it sorted. They'll surely need it.
A new computer system at the Inland Revenue has resulted in mistakes in tax deductions for tens for thousands of people, many of whom have been left out of pocket until the money can be refunded. Pensioners, whose tax codes are complex, are as you might expect, among those worst hit.
People have had their personal tax allowances removed and been placed on higher tax codes or even had a '1' inserted in front of their salary, putting their taxable income by £100,000.
The Revenue has also admitted its call centres are "exceptionally busy" and that callers "are finding it difficult to get through to an adviser" and some have been disconnected before they can report their problems. Nice service guys. That’s what we pay you for NOT. Note to George....Sort it!
Although the problem first came to light in January, so it can hardly be blamed on the current government, HMRC has never publicly disclosed how many people had been affected. However, it is now reckoned that there could be up to 100,000 people affected in total.
Despite the awful service from the call centre, employers are still being advised that if they have enquiries from employees or pensioners about this to ask them to contact the Revenue in the usual way,....so that they can be ignored, or rather cut off after they have struggled through countless mechanical exercises in getting to the correct destination.
HMRC said that more customers had been contacting them because they wanted to query the coding used in their April pay packets. Noooooo, surely not?
They said: "We are aware that some customers, because of the increase in demand, are finding it
difficult to get through to an adviser and we apologise for this and are doing all we can to meet the need."Inevitably at busy times we may be unable to answer all our calls. We are working hard to maintain a good customer service. We know, for instance, that some customers have been frustrated by being disconnected after they have been through the … messaging system, but before they speak to an adviser. We are now taking new measures to help prevent this from happening."
Actually it’s not really “inevitable” at all, and I can’t see why they think it would be. They knew about this mistake in January. They might reasonably have expected that if they didn’t fix it by April there would be a high demand for their service from confused, frustrated and sometime seriously worried “customers” or taxpayers as ordinary people would call them. So really the only inevitability is that they could expect one hell of a lot of complaints.
It begs the question ... why didn’t they prepare for this....?
The problem, needless to say, comes from the introduction of a new system, which combines information on National Insurance contributions and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) for the first time. But in some cases the system has incorrect information about earnings, m
eaning some people incorrectly being placed in the wrong tax band.HMRC admitted the number affected was unknown because staff were not recording how many cases they had dealt with. Or maybe they just don’t want us to know how badly they have messed up...
I’ve dealt with the Revenue and frankly it gets about 6 out of 10 for politeness. but 2 out of 10 for reliability. My experience was that nothing gets done till you push and push and get cross. Then it gets done wrong and you have to start all over again.
I wish the people who have been wrongly coded the very best of luck in trying to get it sorted. They'll surely need it.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
A JOB A DAY KEEPS THE TAXMAN AT BAY
Danny Alexander may well have the record for the shortest time spent as a Secretary of State for Scotland; however it is possible that his tenure of the post of Chief Secretary at the Treasury will be even shorter.
It appears that Mr Alexander, whilst not having broken any laws (no pun intended), has been morally rather less than we would have hoped for in a Cabinet minister concerning his tax affairs.
According to the Daily Telegraph, which now sees its mission as the cleaning up of politics and the outing of anyone who has been less than 100%, our Danny has been using that old ploy of first home to the tax people (so no capital gains tax) and second home to the Commons, (so oodles of expenses to do the place up so that it could be sold at a vast profit). Read all about it here.
The tax avoidance, whilst technically not illegal, puts him in the same sort of situation as the deeply unlikeable Hazel Blears, who when caught red handed, owing around £13,000 to the Inland Revenue, paid up with great ceremony waving her cheque and grinning like she was some sort of heroine.
What I find deeply concerning is that David and Nick don’t seem to have looked very far into the financial affairs of their chief secretaries. Nor does the Liberal Whips Office seem to have been particularly smart over it.
Nick Clegg very specifically said that that no Lib Dem MP profited from the expenses system. It seems that he didn’t actually check that fact before he made the statement.
I am not calling for his resignation, but it if it were me, I’d be gone by now out of sheer embarrassment!
It appears that Mr Alexander, whilst not having broken any laws (no pun intended), has been morally rather less than we would have hoped for in a Cabinet minister concerning his tax affairs.
According to the Daily Telegraph, which now sees its mission as the cleaning up of politics and the outing of anyone who has been less than 100%, our Danny has been using that old ploy of first home to the tax people (so no capital gains tax) and second home to the Commons, (so oodles of expenses to do the place up so that it could be sold at a vast profit). Read all about it here.
The tax avoidance, whilst technically not illegal, puts him in the same sort of situation as the deeply unlikeable Hazel Blears, who when caught red handed, owing around £13,000 to the Inland Revenue, paid up with great ceremony waving her cheque and grinning like she was some sort of heroine.
What I find deeply concerning is that David and Nick don’t seem to have looked very far into the financial affairs of their chief secretaries. Nor does the Liberal Whips Office seem to have been particularly smart over it.
Nick Clegg very specifically said that that no Lib Dem MP profited from the expenses system. It seems that he didn’t actually check that fact before he made the statement.
I am not calling for his resignation, but it if it were me, I’d be gone by now out of sheer embarrassment!
Saturday, 20 March 2010
BROWN INTENDS UK TO BE "PAPERLESS STATE" WITHIN FOUR YEARS
Of all the hair brained cockamamie schemes that the muppet Brown has come up with, this latest one is such a cookie it had me checking my calendar to make sure that it wasn’t April 1.
Yep, this time he’s really flipped. According to The Times he is set to announce that all public services could be delivered online within four years. His intention apparently is to create a "paperless state" and save billions of pounds.
It would of course mean the loss of probably millions jobs in Jobcentres, benefit offices, passport centres and town halls, etc, étc, and of course in the ancillary jobs that these jobs create, shops, transport, cleaning, etc, etc.
Brown apparently intends to announce plans which, over four years, will save the country billions in staff costs, buildings, paper, stamps, telephone calls, paper clips, heating, lighting, blah, blah as the government phases out its call centres and offices.
And everyone sitting at home in their semi detached will be able to book a doctor’s appointment, claim benefits, renew a new passport, pay bills including tax, or register a car from their computer without leaving the comfort of their spare bedroom. Does
Well that will be brilliant Gordon, because of course everyone has a pc or two or three, in their home; everyone can use it efficiently and if and when (as it invariably does) it goes wrong, everyone knows how to fix it, or at least can pay a com
Everyone always has electricity to power it, and everyone will be able to replace it after 3 years when it’s out of date and running slow. Everyone can get broadband at the same speed as Downing Street and everyone of course is clever enough to whizz their way through government stuff online.
Apparently there are to be “digital gateway” offices, where people who are uncomfortable with computers can go and queue (probably for three weeks) to be given advice on applying for services online, which they will have completely forgotten by the time they get the bus home, particularly if they live in a small village miles from anywhere, or on one of the islands, or won’t be able to translate into what their particular screen says. (So they may have to get back on the bus for 2 hours to queue for another 3 weeks to clarify a point.)
The private sector is of course to be involved (well it wouldn’t be New Labour unless they were farming stuff out to their mates in private industry). Apparently it will be possible to buy car tax disc on Amazon. Maybe you’ll be able to get your pension from Tesco and your dole money from Marks and Spencer. Could someone remind me why trades unions support the Labour Party?
Mind you, just in case you thought it was only the government that was barking and living in la la land, The Times also reports that a Shadow Cabinet member has indicated that the Tories supported the plans to get government online.
Do any of our representatives live in the same country... or even the same planet as “ordinary” people? Has any of them ever been in a tower block, or lived in a remote community, or been old, or poor (silly question), or just not wanted to be bothered with computers....
Duh!
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