UK Tax Scam

[Mutt Daeng]

8 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

Good stuff.

 

Don't you need a UK address for the Government Gateway?

I don't know if you need a UK address to get a Gov Gateway account. I opened my GG account before 2009 (When I left the UK for good)

[Eff1n2ret]

1 hour ago, hotandsticky said:

Don't you need a UK address for the Government Gateway?

No.

[Pumpuynarak]

I cannot believe that there is no tie up between the HMRC and the DWP over what state pensioners are receiving. I too get notice of codings every year by accessing the government gateway and sure enough they ALWAYS show i'm receiving a higher state pension than i am. I'm not receiving the annual increases as i'm resident in Thailand and they both know this as my address is on their records.

 

Beggars belief the ineptitude of these two ??????? 

[hotandsticky]

3 hours ago, Mutt Daeng said:

I don't know if you need a UK address to get a Gov Gateway account. I opened my GG account before 2009 (When I left the UK for good)

I believe you do  -  or at least I had to for my friend in Lahansai yesterday.

[OJAS]

3 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

I cannot believe that there is no tie up between the HMRC and the DWP over what state pensioners are receiving. I too get notice of codings every year by accessing the government gateway and sure enough they ALWAYS show i'm receiving a higher state pension than i am. I'm not receiving the annual increases as i'm resident in Thailand and they both know this as my address is on their records.

 

Beggars belief the ineptitude of these two ??????? 

Unfortunately, the sad reality these days is that the concept of "joined-up government", as so enthusiatically espoused by the likes of Tony Blair and John Prescott 20 years or so ago, is now completely dead in the water, with individual component parts of The Great UK Government Machine in all probability now acting under strict orders emanating from On High to confine their activities to matters which fall strictly within their purview, with blinkers firmly attached to prevent any "undesirable" sideways glances into areas for which they are not responsible.

 

[OJAS]

2 hours ago, hotandsticky said:

I believe you do  -  or at least I had to for my friend in Lahansai yesterday.

No dickey-bird mention in the following link of any need for a UK address in setting up a Government Gateway account, unless I'm missing something:-

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-our-services-using-government-gateway/use-a-government-gateway-account

 

[hotandsticky]

3 hours ago, OJAS said:

No dickey-bird mention in the following link of any need for a UK address in setting up a Government Gateway account, unless I'm missing something:-

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-our-services-using-government-gateway/use-a-government-gateway-account

 

I tried to input a Thailand address but it would not accept it.

[OJAS]

18 hours ago, hotandsticky said:

I tried to input a Thailand address but it would not accept it.

There certainly used to be an alternative to the Government Gateway known as GOV.UK Verify - which did require a UK address to be input as I found out when I tried unsuccessfully to register for this facility from Thailand a couple of years ago. However, as will be evident from the link below, it is no more:-

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introducing-govuk-verify/introducing-govuk-verify

 

But if, indeed, new Government Gateway accounts can now only be opened with a UK address, this is tantamount to barking madness of the highest order IMHO. What about those who, like myself, no longer have access to a UK address for whatever reason? The UK government certainly does appear to be excelling itself in seemingly being firmly joined-up in at least one particular respect - namely in making life as difficult as is humanly possible for us expat retirees here in LOS (where it is, of course, being eagerly aided and abetted by its Thai counterpart). We already have HMPO and DWP to "thank" for the cumbersomely bureaucratic procedures which have been inflicted on us over the past 10 years or so in the areas of passport renewal and State Pension life certificates respectively. And now HMRC seem intent on joining the "party" by preventing expats from opening new Government Gateway accounts, if your latest unsuccessful attempts are now the new norm.

 

[kinyara]

On 8/3/2023 at 4:38 AM, mikebell said:

I am just back from 3 weeks in the rain. This is to let you know, I (& many others) are likely owed many thousands; I stand to recoup over 5K UKP.  I know next to nothing about Income tax coding which is at the crux of the scam.  Each year I am given a notice of coding & accepted it unconditionally as it was from the HMRC people themselves.  This is their defence when challenged; if you accept it without checking, you lose.

My daughter thought I was paying too much.  We checked on line & found (eventually) to my horror that the tax authorities have assumed I was receiving a full State pension (of 10K this year.)  In fact my pension has been frozen for 15 years as I live in Thailand.

I sent two letters  from Thailand which were ignored.  I sent on-line messages which were allocated an official case number but never acted on.

So I phoned in the UK.  (Phoning from here was difficult because of the time gap + an inordinate wait of about an hour before you got a real person (all the while being told how important your call was). I was initially re-directed to the Pension people in Newcastle, staffed by incompetents who did not know what day it was & re-directed me back to the Tax people.

After an exhaustive conversation with someone prepared to go the extra mile, he admitted that I have been overpaying for years.  He could only go back 4 or 5 years and calculated I was due 5K+.  I received the 1st tranche within a week (3,500+) but there has been a deafening silence since.

A perfect example of why it's never a good idea to abdicate your personal responsibility to check your own annual personal tax calculation. Astonished given how regularly you bring up the wider issue of frozen pensions you didn't concentrate your efforts on what was actually within your ability to control income wise.

 

For the majority of us it really is a very simple matter of adding up a few annual figures comprising gross income and deducting from that one figure for your personal allowance, apply the % tax rate and compare that figure to what has been deducted. An exercise in basic arithmetic and information gathering.

 

I'm not surprised at the emotive misleading headline, it's the icing on the cake.

 

 

 

[topt]

To the OP and anybody else who may need it here is a useful link to help with tax codes and potentially reclaiming overpaid tax - 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/check-tax-code/

 

Here is a recent article about HMRC and issues being blamed on understaffing......

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/smallbusiness/article-12198887/Inside-chaos-tax-office-Whats-gone-wrong-disastrously-understaffed-HMRC.html

 

It mentions the fact that they have closed the PAYE helpline until September which would make it very difficult to get advice if you are having issues with a tax return.

[topt]

On 8/3/2023 at 1:45 PM, mikebell said:

then say they will reimburse me for only the last 4 years;

OP according to the link above that I posted from MoneySavingExpert it says this -

Quote

How far back can I claim?

As we say above, HMRC will adjust your tax code for the current year to correct errors. If the problem has been going on longer, you can claim back up to FOUR additional years of overpaid tax. This means you can currently go back as far as the 2019/20 tax year.

However, even if the deadline has passed for the tax year in question, don't let this put you off getting back what's yours. In certain circumstances – including when HMRC is at fault – your claim will be considered. So fight your corner.

 

[CharlieKo]

On 8/3/2023 at 10:47 AM, ezzra said:

That strange if you owned them money they find your records going back since you were born, don't let them BS you and threat to sue them.

That won't work. HMRC only goes back 4-5 years in regards to getting a refund on over paid taxes. However HMRC can pursue you for unpaid taxes up to 7 years back dated.   

[CharlieKo]

On 8/3/2023 at 3:00 PM, Chomper Higgot said:

I agree with others, not a scam.

 

The OP can ensure he pays the right tax by requesting a self assessment.

 

Nobody owes him the duty to make sure his taxes are right, that’s something he and all tax payers must do for themselves.

 

They should all use an accountant to do their tax returns. The cost is tax deductible. And for some would have saved them thousands of which they may not be able to reclaim once over the 4-5 year back dated period. 

[CharlieKo]

On 8/4/2023 at 6:29 PM, hotandsticky said:

I tried to input a Thailand address but it would not accept it.

Do HMRC know you don't live in the UK? I have a government gateway account. As an NRL for tax purposes.  

[chang50]

This situation is intolerable.Surely as long term U.K. taxpayers we shouldn't be put through this nonesense affecting our health as our lives draw to a close.Shame on HMRC.

[OJAS]

On 9/3/2023 at 11:24 AM, chang50 said:

This situation is intolerable.Surely as long term U.K. taxpayers we shouldn't be put through this nonesense affecting our health as our lives draw to a close.Shame on HMRC.

And HMRC are by no means alone in the Great British Government Machine in inflicting this sort of nonsense on us, as I have already stated in this thread. Equal bucketloads of shame on HMPO and DWP, I think.