Readers forum: Why can’t HMRC get the simple things right

I have a UK-domiciled husband and wife client who work in Switzerland and let their former home and also the premises from which the husband used to conduct his chiropractor business on a part business part residential basis.

For some mysterious reason the HMRC computer logs the receipt of the tax returns which are submitted online. The tax returns are not processed however and so no tax liability is shown. The tax payments which are made on time are shown.

Each year I phone HMRC and it (eventually) fixes the problem for that year but nothing is done to fix it for subsequent years.

As I was expecting the problem arose again for the 2022-23 tax return when I checked in February and I wrote to HMRC informing the department of the problem. There seemed to be no point in phoning as I could not afford...