Revenue mistake or mine?

V

venezia

Registered User
Messages
8
My husband and I are PAYE workers and practically every year have sent in a Form 12. We moved house in 2000 and extended in 2005. Somewhere along the line we noticed a reference in our Tax Credit Cert to 'Company Inv Int' and queried it to be told (I far as I remember) it was because we had a couple of mortgages (top up when moving in 2000 had to be taken out as a separate mortgage because of fixed rate penalty) and it was a way of allowing us the mortgage interest relief. (Vague on the detail, but it was years ago).

We sent in the Form 12 this year, and received the balancing statement today. I phoned to query an underpayment and in the course of the conversation the company inv. int. entry came up. I said I understood it to be something to do with the mortgage interest relief. She said it is deducted at source now, which I knew. Kids, career breaks etc meant I took my eye off the ball and hadn't noticed the decrepancy.

I think when the mortgage interest relief moved to deducting at source, revenue assumed the 'company inv int' was actually relief on a company investment loan and never changed it and now years have gone by with this relief being applied which we are not entitled to. It is about 335 per year and if it is since 2002 that tax releif occured at source, then it adds up to a fair bit.
We have sent in numerous Form 12's over these years and never claimed to have any company investment loan. NEVER!
If anyone can make sense of this or suggest what I should do, I'd appreciate it.
 
Last edited:
Unfortunately the onus on ensuring that any relief applied is correct rests with the Taxpayer. A similar error occurred on my own tax last year and Revenue addressed it by immediately applying the change in 1 month rsulting in a significant impact on my net salary. This does appear to be an error and as such you are best advised to address it immediately. They may be prepared to take the amount of tax underpaid in instalments rather than in one lump sum but this is probably the best response you can expect.
 
Thanks for replying. That sounds like a nightmare! How do I go about sorting this out? Is it best to write to them? Sorry to be thick, just haven't had much direct dealings with them.
 
venezia said:
Thanks for replying. That sounds like a nightmare! How do I go about sorting this out? Is it best to write to them? Sorry to be thick, just haven't had much direct dealings with them.
Click to expand...

You should probably employ an accountant who is also a tax agent to negotiate on your behalf
 
It is very very difficult to get revenue to confirm that they are in error. If this 'allowance' appeared on your form in error by the tax office then you will have to discuss it with them by calling in to your local office and getting someone competent to deal with you. Normally I advise that everything should be in writing, but in this particular case I advise the softly softly approach. Revenue are very approachable. Have all your facts including your memory of phone conversations written down for your meeting.

As you seem to have received the allowance in error then you owe tax, there is no getting around this. But if it is their error you need to claim you don't have the money so that they will take it in instalments from you.
 
Bronte said:
But if it is their error you need to claim you don't have the money so that they will take it in instalments from you.
Click to expand...

This advice surprises me. If the OP has the money to pay a shortfall, they shouldn't pretend otherwise. Telling lies gets you nowhere, least of all with Revenue.
 
I assumed that people wouldn't have a large lump sum to hand, maybe I worded it badly.
 
Unless the OP has spilled the beans to Rev about all previous years then it might be just 2010 that needs to be paid. If that's the case they should just pay if they have the funds. For such a small amount I'm Rev will incorporate in to the tax credits for 2011 and/or 2012.

Again if the above is true ignore all previous years.

Call your PAYE section and just request that the tax credit be removed from the current year and check that it doesn't reappear in future years.
 
Thanks for all the replies - I haven't got on to them yet. It was definitely their error (as far as i'm concerned) as we have very straightforward PAYE workers with no company investments, no second properties etc. We would have never requested an allowance for company investment interest or whatever it was. But I am presuming it will date back to the change to the 'at source' ere around 2002. It adds up to an allowance of about 3600 in all I reckon. While this could be taken out of savings it would be quite a chunk. I suppose I could chance just asking for it to be stopped from this year on and see what happens. But we'll be always looking over our shoulders then... Thanks everyone.
 
'Their error' wont wash as you are the one signing the form so don't attempt the higher moral ground route with them


If you do it on line there is a 'am not sure box' dont know about the paper one.

Why not register for ROS and play on so to speak
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top