Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Tax code problems: a message from HM Revenue & Customs

As a public service announcement, and because it's rather embarrassing...

Annual coding: multiple or incorrect tax code notices

HMRC has recently introduced a new National Insurance and PAYE system and is using it to issue notices of tax coding for the first time. The new system creates a single record for customers and this, together with increased automation, is resulting in many more people having more accurate codes than before.

The transition to the new system has, however brought to light discrepancies in our existing records and this is resulting in a number of incorrect notices being issued. The vast majority of notices will be correct but there will be cases where, because the data carried over from our old systems does not match employers’ data, some people receive an incorrect coding notice or more than one coding notice for the same employment because of these discrepancies. This is a transitional issue caused by data mismatches, rather than an IT issue and will be resolved once we have cleared these from the system.

We are aware of the issue and apologise for any inconvenience caused. There is plenty of time to put the codes right before the start of the tax year and we are doing everything we can to rectify the position and ensure no-one pays too much tax when the new tax year starts in April.

However, anyone who is concerned that their code may be wrong should check it using the guidance included with the code and on our website. If customers cannot resolve their query, they can telephone 0845 3000 627 so we can ensure the right tax code is applied in time for the start of the new tax year on 6 April 2010.

Click here to find out more information about your PAYE Coding Notice.

1 comment:

nickynoo said...

these tax people are joking!have you tried to get through to them recently? you have no hope ,bloody shambles