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Issue 47 of Working Together has been published. Extracts follow.
Incorrect P35 penalty notices
After being told that penalty notices were being issued in some ‘no P35 to make’ declarations sent to HMRC by email, Revenue staff have been told to take the following action:
If an agent or an employer contacts the employer helpline disputing the penalty or wanting to appeal, they should be told that no appeal is necessary and their case will be sent for review and the penalty notice cancelled, where appropriate.
If an appeal is submitted against the penalty notice, the normal procedures should be followed including stopping recovery of the penalty until the appeal has been settled.
Uncleared payments
Where a taxpayer makes a payment for self assessment that puts them into credit, HMRC confirm that their processes prevent them from making a repayment until 30 days after the date of the payment.
The delay is built in to reduce a type of fraud which relies on repayments being issued quickly. Once the 30-day period has passed the normal repayment process will start.
Self assessment filing penalties
HMRC explained that after 31 October, certain actions taken on a taxpayer’s self assessment record can inadvertently lead to a penalty notice automatically being issued incorrectly for a late paper return. They have reminded staff to follow the guidance which tells them how to stop this from happening.
Freestanding credit
In October 2011, the Lincoln local WT group raised an issue around the guidance in HMRC’s Self Assessment Manual on creating a freestanding credit.
The guidance instructed HMRC staff to ‘advise the customer/agent how the request for repayment/set off had been dealt with’, normally by issuing a copy of the revised self assessment statement to the taxpayer and the agent showing the credit, but without further details. This often meant further contact with HMRC.
A suggestion was made that in all cases, the guidance should tell HMRC staff to send a copy of the calculation as well.
HMRC have therefore amended the guidance to include an instruction on how to add a note to the statement to explain how the credit had been calculated, thus eliminating the need for further contact.
