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Desperately trying to comply
I am ‘Criminal’, the pseudonym I used for the recent Readers’ forum query, ‘VAT’s criminal’, for which the replies were published in Taxation, 24 August 2023, page 24. Thank you to Monty Jivraj and Gardener for their responses. While I had considered writing either to my or my client’s MP (or both), the suggestions of registering on the agents’ forum and the complaints information were useful.
Fortunately, my case is heading towards resolution. In a recent call, the 14th one, progress was made. (Many calls ended in being cut off after about one hour of waiting.) The official told me that there had been developments since I last called: he was now himself able to process (there is a ‘but’, see below) the necessary changes to their records, and did so while I held on. Previously, the call staff had to refer the case either to ‘technical support’ or ‘transformation team’. A few minutes after that last call, I was able to submit a return.
I say ‘heading towards resolution’ because the records now show nearly all the VAT assessed as being payable, with a due date of the end of this month, with only one instalment being shown as paid, whereas, in fact, all the tax was paid on time. But HMRC’s records instead show the rest of the instalments as being unallocated. I am therefore in round two, calling, hoping to get through, so that the unallocated payments can be correctly allocated: all the VAT due has been paid.
On my most recent call, the team member tried unsuccessfully to allocate the payments. After 40 minutes of trying, he had to concede defeat, and said he would pass the issue to the migration team.
I liked both respondent’s sympathy and comments that the case is widespread – something I was well aware of through reading this magazine for years and my own general experience, but this has been a bad one. In total, so far, I have spent over 30 hours on this, counting the endless holding on listening to piped music.
What I didn’t put in my query is that the client is, in fact, my son; and that I am a very experienced direct tax practitioner, a retired big four tax partner, and I am helping my son as he embarks on his career. I was appointed his VAT agent. I raised the query out of frustration and to share my experience: I can do some other work while holding on, but I can’t fully concentrate, because the piped music is occasionally interrupted by such things as ‘your call is important to us’ or ‘all our advisers are busy at the moment’ and each time a (recorded) human voice comes on, you think you’ve been successful. I can’t imagine how one could charge for all the 30 hours I have spent so far had it been a paying client. I suspect one can’t, so it is the agents who are losing out, while their clients will likely not understand the months without progress.
Some further comments: all the staff I have spoken to, bar one, have been friendly, professional and tried to help. I know it isn’t their fault, it is shortage of staff and poor systems, or a botched system migration. The staff member who was curt and abrupt was memorable: after holding on for over 50 minutes, nature called and I had to step away from my desk. I got back just in time after hearing a real voice and to be told ‘good job you answered, after 20 seconds our service standard means we end the call’. Telling him I had waited 50 minutes did not elicit any sympathy.
Secondly, I was told there are thousands of customers affected, due to an oversight in dealing with annual accounting customers when there was a migration to a new system. Further, there are a variety of errors that have arisen in the migration, including many where payments weren’t showing at all on the account: so there is no one-solution-fits-all, but the recent ability for the staff to make the changes has helped.
Now, to payment allocation. I was told that if my son gets a call demanding the tax shown on the return, he is to mention that it is a migration issue and that his agent has been in regular contact. I await to see what happens and am also fearing his current year VAT quarterly payments will not be allocated.
With honest taxpayers and their agents struggling so hard with poor HMRC systems, it is easy to think that less scrupulous taxpayers won’t be as compliant or diligent. I am tempted to submit a freedom of information request for an estimate of the loss of tax caused by such matters.
Good luck to other affected taxpayers and their agents.
Criminal.
