Taxpayers waiting for tax refunds

Elaine Skelton, Head of Personal Tax at leading independent firm of Chartered Accountants Barber Harrison & Platt, has observed a noticeable increase in the number of taxpayers waiting several weeks, or even months, for refunds of overpaid tax.  In most instances this has arisen from overpayments of income tax collected through the PAYE system and which have been reclaimed via an individual’s tax return. This problem is affecting small and large repayment claims alike.

Ms Skelton commented “Making a claim for repayment through your tax return should result in an automatic refund being issued. As part of its commitment to combat fraud however, HMRC randomly selects individuals who are due repayments in order to carry out security checks. It is these security checks which have been blamed for causing the delays”.

Ms Skelton continued “the issue of delayed repayments is one that affects a wide cross section of people in South Yorkshire where the time taken to process the repayment is wholly disproportionate to the amount involved”.  She added “the problem is compounded by the fact that HMRC pays just 0.5% interest on its delayed repayments whereas it charges taxpayers 3% on late payments of tax”.

She advises that taxpayers who are still awaiting a repayment 8 weeks after submitting their tax return should contact their local tax office and if the payment is further delayed should consider making a formal complaint.