"I'm not sure I see a need to apologise."

One public sector employee I would like to see lose his job 🙄

C O C K

Typical Revenue and Customs attitude. Pure arrogance.

If he does need a new job I reckon he'd fit in very well at BP.

As a payroll manager who is going to have to deal with some angry employees, I can only say that I hope this bloke gets a thorough shoeing.

The attitude of HMRC can at best be described as feudal, with next to no compassion for the hundreds of thousands of low paid workers who are going to be faced with this.

The last government had over-legislated and micro-managed the taxation system to the point whereby it's no longer fit for purpose.

Press character assassination IMO.

I don't see the problem.

You get a coding notice, don't bother to read it, or don't bother to inform the revenue if it's wrong, then when it's corrected you blame somebody else.

Simplify the tax system. If the Inland Revenue can't get it right, then it's clearly out of hand.

Is the problem not with employers and employees getting the tax code wrong rather than the IR?

Would be simpler if we all had to do an online tax return.

Typical Revenue and Customs attitude. Pure arrogance.

Upper management / board level perhaps, not the staff who actually do the work and have to weather the latest management fads, working practices designed to dumb down the work, staff cuts, and attacks on their contractural severance rights via legislative change, and then deal with the fallout when it goes wrong for the taxpayers like you & I

But now he's wound his neck in.

Too little, too late, sunshine. You are an arrogant cock and you should fall on your sword.

PS. If you don't have one I'll gladly buy you one as long as I can watch.

The arrogance of people like him is beyond belief.

I don't see the problem.

You get a coding notice, don't bother to read it, or don't bother to inform the revenue if it's wrong, then when it's corrected you blame somebody else.

The HMRC so incompetent that they have failed to get my coding right for the last 2 years
They agree they have all the numbers but they just can't get it right
I've had 17 coding notices in that 2 year period & TBH I have now no idea what's correct & what isn't

I have a point which as often happens the media have'nt covered. The average bill is £1400. Thats not very much money to be perfectly honest. Im not rich, i dont have a house or even a job at the moment but if i got that bill i could just pay it.

Why dont people have those kind of savings? Thats got to be below the average monthly salary, why do we not have savings equivalent to a months wages as a minimum?

This country is in a bad way at the moment, but people generally are so irresponsible with their money its not hard to see why its liek it is.

Is the problem not with employers and employees getting the tax code wrong rather than the IR?

I've had five different tax codes so far this year, only one of them has been correct. The three hundred staff I process every month have generated over 1,500 P6(T) forms so far, often more than one generated on the same day making accurate estimation of the tax code impossible.

I've had to speak to the tax office for clarification, often waiting forty minutes plus on hold beforehand.

treefinger, you and me live in VERY different worlds, I don't get paid any where near £1400 a month and I DO have a house to pay for, as well as 2 kids.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about my situation, we live within our means (just) but there is no way I can magic £1400 out of thin air with a few months notice. And I suspect that I'm not alone in this.

If HRMC have cocked up calculations and I get a letter then I have no argument with paying what I owe, but I'll need some time and understanding to pay back in a reasonable way.

To be honest I hoping for a £400 cheque if my guessimations are correct…

Our accountants have had to query every coding I've had for the past few years, the IR just keeps re-instating benefits from previous years.

"I'm not sure I see a need to apologise."

If you take out of the equation the fact that millions of people have to pay back money they won't have I think the country is still owed an apology for the no doubt tens of millions wasted on a rubbish computer system. That computer system then has to be replaced at a cost of more millions plus the added cost of sorting out the mess. How nice it must be to be in a position where you can waste that sort of money and not feel the need to even apologise for it!

Have to agree with thefunkeymonkey – C O C K !!!

lister im not talking about magicing that money out of no-where, im talking about people saving money. Its still alot of money to me, but i save money because my work can be irregular. I appreciate things are difficult for some people as appears the case for you, and they dont have spare money to put away. But these people are certainly in the minority, how many people do you know who have a brand new car on finance? Or go out friday night and blow £100 on a night out, i know too many!

I struggle to see how people that are earning in excess to what they need to spend dont save money, to me it's common sense. What happens if you suddenly get a big bill for your car for example. Many people CHOOSE not to prepare for these possible situations and i dont have much sympathy with that thinking.

ive gone way off topic though………

I don't believe anyone will actually be getting a bill for £1400. If it turns out you owe that kind of amount and you're under PAYE (most of these errors where you owe money seem to affect PAYE) then it will most likely be taken from your pay from next April onwards. You'll be paying it back a bit at a time through a decreased tax code.

Over £2K though and you'll probably be asked to stump up within 3 months. 😐 In which case I would be claiming "Official Error". As long as I'd supplied them with the correct info in time. The more people that do this the better. Don't think they have the staff to handle tens of thousands of such claims 🙂

I've had no end of problems with HMRC – I have to say the staff I've spoken to have been very helpful indeed – fair play to them for dealing with a very difficult job. As for Captain COCK, aka Dave Hartnett – the sooner that useless sack of gizzards resigns the better.

sorry to bump this topic, but I'm listening to moneybox on radio 4 from yesterday when the bloke made his 'its not my fault' speach.

interviewer: you have 1 million unanswered letters in your offices, thats not really a good deal for the taxpayer, you currently miss 44million calls from taxpayers each year, what are you doing about it?
HMRC: well lets look at the facts, 1 million letters are currently unanswered but that only represents 1 letter per 44 taxpayers in the country. Do we know if those callers rang back and were answered at a later date?

what a cock