Record breaker?

On 15 June 2009 I submitted a claim to the Edinburgh Tax Office by recorded delivery for a refund of tax for a client for 2006/07.

This followed a recent change in the April 2009 Budget by the Chancellor to offset any losses on overseas furnished holiday lettings against UK income in the same year. The deadline for submissions was 31 July 2009.

When I rang on 15 July via the agent’s helpline after having received no reply even though the Royal Mail tracking service showed my submission had been received on 16 June I was told that the mail processing system was four to five working weeks behind.

When I rang again they had still not processed mail from 15 June.

This is supposedly a quiet time of year because there are no January or May deadlines for self assessment or employers’ returns respectively. I dread...