Okat Sibs Here Goes

[Jeza]

I had 4 bills to pay.

Water bill arrived a week ago so they can take a running jump until April when it's due.

Car tax, paid online easy peazy.

TV Licence, paid on line again east.

A demand for unpaid income tax a nightmare. Went to the website to pay it and would not except the ref number. Rang the 10p a minute phone number and listening to the options and went into a queue. Eventually answered to be told another number. This happened 4 times. In the end I was told I could not pay over the phone or on line but would have to send a cheque to the tax office.
Thats when I blew my stack. I was calling different numbers all 10p a minute for nearly 2 hours. Now they want me to put a 1st class stamp on the letter so it reaches them so the cheque will clear by the end of the month.

What really gets to me is, my income is all pensions. They know what I receive and take tax every month. If I've underpaid it's their fault not mine. I suggested changing my tax code to get the money. No they said you must pay by Feb 28. So about £10 on the phone bill and a 1st class stamp to rectify their mistake.

I thought Where is Red Helen (aka) fgt when you need her.

So don't get me going on people, who with better tax knowledge than me pay next to nothing.

SIBS, You did ask

[factor-fiction]

The state retirement pension is untaxed of course and depending on other tax codes can result in some liability for tax at year end.
I'm not sure why a tax code isn't applied at source to state pensions

[Psybbo]

Gawd, Jeza, I don't blame you, that is awful. Is there any way you can complain about this? Does anyone on here know?

[Jeza]

Factor, along with my state pension I have 2 work based pensions which I pay tax on every month.

Sorry about the typos in my 1st post.

[Mamyalynne]

It is the sheer frustration, in this modern day it should be simple to pay online especially if they have given you a reference. Also how they manage to muck it up in the first place and it costs you to sort it out.

Rant away.

[factor-fiction]

Yes, I realised that, Jeza. It depends on what tax codes have been applied to your work pensions. I'm guessing it's the first year in which you've received state pension and you weren't getting it when your tax codes were allocated. Hopefully they will correct your codes next year so the right tax is deducted

[factor-fiction]

It must have been frustrating. i don't ring HMRC and used to avoid ringing DWP as the costs would be ridiculous- could easily be £3-4 a call. If there is no facility to do it online via the HMRC site, I'd try paying from my own account or I would pay by cheque. calls to these places should be free or of nominal cost

[Psybbo]

Do you have a local office that you could go and talk to someone, I had to do that once and got sorted?

[sir.prize]

Most payments can now be paid online. Ie TV Licence, Water Rates, Council Tax.

Are HMRC digitally behind the times?

[sunny-dave]

HMRC are second only in their utter uselessness to the UKBA.

Both bodies seem to revel in their autocratic power and use every opportunity to frustrate the honest citizen, whilst being about as useful as a chocolate fire-guard in dealing with evaders and miscreants.

HMRC know the intimate details of every single bit of my income - yet still manage to balls-up my tax code on a yearly basis. It took a major strop on the phone to get them to take my back-tax (which they had caused to be underpaid) by adjusting next years code rather than an instant demand for a cheque as Jeza has had.

I don't think my tactic of referring endlessly to Dave Hartnett's 'sweetheart deal' with Vodafone helped my cause a lot - but it gave me a lot of pleasure in demolishing their feeble excuses about it.

[pixie373]

No. You can pay online. There seems to be a problem with the reference number.

[sunny-dave]

I don't understand the statements about the "10p a minute" contact numbers, though.

The main number is 0300 200 3300 which is charged at the standard 01/02/03 rate and is also included in any bundles of 'free calls' or 'free minutes' allowances on mobiles or landlines.

[Jeza]

SD. they then gave me another nimber and then another and so it went on.

This is not my 1st year of state pension or my other 2 pensions that I receive. In my opinion they chase the little man, or woman in my case but let the real avoiders away scot free,

[sunny-dave]

I agree Jeza - if you owe them £100 they will hound you to the ends of the earth.

If you owe them £100,000,000 then they buy you lunch and cut a deal - and eventually the head taxman 'retires' and goes to work for the evaders ... whilst we pay his pension.

Shameless/Shameful ... and lots of other words which the swear filter will turn to *****s