HMRC took down their online tax overpayment claim service on 23rd June, after discovering a “glitch” in the system. They had it back up and running by the 27th, which is great.
Unfortunately, this has created a backlog, leaving many taxpayers without their payments within the original time frame. Given many people’s precarious financial situations at the moment, this is not great news.
Who is this online tax repayment service for?
If you are an employee, paid through the PAYE system, you can use this online service to claim any tax you may have overpaid. There are several different reasons why a taxpayer might have overpaid tax, such as:
- You’ve been issued the wrong tax code by HMRC, or the wrong tax code is mistakenly used by your employer. It is your responsibility to check your tax code is right.
- You got a new job during the tax year and, based on your annual predicted earnings, you already paid more tax than you owed.
- You are made redundant during the tax year and your tax payments were higher than necessary at that time.
How was HMRC’s online system disrupted?
HMRC send P800 calculation letters to taxpayers that have overpaid, with the instruction to claim their repayment through the online system. While the service was suspended in order to fix their “technological issue”, no one could apply to get their refund. And those that had applied already, had their repayments delayed.
Considering how carefully many people are managing their money right now, this unexpected delay has been an additional source of tension. The usual five day wait for payment is now doubled to ten days.
HMRC haven’t revealed any details about what went wrong with the system, just tweeted a standard “sorry for any inconvenience” apology.
They have also said: “All customers who have already submitted their repayment request will have the money in their bank by Thursday 2 July, or receive a cheque by Monday 13 July if they requested payment by cheque.”
I tried to claim a refund around this time, should I try again now?
Yes, HMRC have fixed the problem, so you can go ahead and submit your claim today. Make sure you have your P800 letter, National Insurance Number, P60, tax credit details, recent payslip, in date passport and government gateway account details to hand before you start.
What should I do if you’re handling my claim for me?
If we’ve submitted your claim for you, the biggest impact of this is that we’re waiting longer for your cheque to arrive. The backlog this system problem has caused is lengthening everyone’s process time. This doesn’t mean that your claim has been denied and you don’t have to do anything about it.
An integral part of our service is to follow up with HMRC and chase any delayed paperwork and payments. We can’t hurry it along, but we make sure that your claim is not just lost in the pile and you get your money as quickly as possible.
It’s worth remembering that HMRC are, just like the rest of us, doing their best under difficult circumstances. They’re having to implement new government schemes at top speed, while maintaining their process times for existing services.
All while either suddenly working from home or under social distancing guidelines. So problems that do happen are likely to take a bit longer to fix. We’ve built good relationships with our HMRC contacts over the years and proactively advocate for our clients with mutual respect and understanding.
