[FONT="Verdana"][SIZE="2"]Apparently HM Customs and Excise have made a tiny SNAFU with the new tax system that may result in some people being stung for up to 1500 quid.

But accountants said recipients should act swiftly to use a little-known loophole which forces HM Revenue and Customs to abandon 'out of the blue' demands and effectively write off the money.
[LEFT]They also insisted many of those affected are entitled to argue that they or their employer have done nothing wrong and should not be penalised for someone else's blunder."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new ... istake.html#ixzz0yuZiVYWY

As far back as February a Money Mail investigation exposed how the Revenue had known for months that the new tax code system was heading for chaos - but failed to stop it.

The majority of those affected by the chaos, around 4.3million, will be winners, and can look forward to an average rebate of £419.

But around 1.4million face paying an additional bill - at an average of an extra £120 a month, or £1,428 in total.

nothing too wrong their if you get your rebate... could the money actually come at a better time also ?

Quote from theirishnoob :

nothing too wrong their if you get your rebate... could the money actually come at a better time also ?

Yeah, but most will have to pay up...

Seriously.... How do they manage to cock up so badly..

I gather most cases are when people have failed to provide them with information, P45s for example, and have then continued to use an incorrect tax code.

As cock up's go...this is a relatively small one, the net effect is that they've under taxed by a mere £162.6million. It looks like it's a computer error because of an update to the systems a couple years ago to bring it more up to date as possible. A much needed update btw.

The problem is that the PAYE system has been in place and more or less unchanged since 1944, it is not done in real time which leads to delays of up to 15 months before HMRC get data from employers. Not a problem in 1944 when people tended to have only 1 income source and people stayed in the same job for longer. But now the labour market has changes, as has people income sources (some having multiple sources) to an extent now that the PAYE system is behind because of the inbuilt delay's to the year end returns which results in a fair amount having to pay more/less tax the following year to make up for discrepancies.

I was reading the article on the BBC news, it did say however if you do owe tax, providing you can reasonably prove it wasn't your fault they will write it off.

...and I was expecting a major scandal yet to be uncovered. :doh:

You think thats bad, my parents got a rebate of £1200 last month, now we know why we've been so poor for ages.

Customs has been doing some strange stuff for a while... their chasing of Portsmouth FC for money they club didn't owe them was shocking, and quite rightly thrown out by the high court.