Tax rebates taking ‘longer’ to be refunded

8 June 2009

People are experiencing increasing delays in the time it takes for refunds of overpaid taxes to be made, it has been claimed.

Jane Moore, technical manager at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), was quoted in the press as saying: “There are unprecedented delays on all fronts this year.

“We have seen particular problems in what are called ‘selected repayments’, where extra checks are made to combat fraud. The suspicion is Revenue and Customs is simply not keeping up with the workload.”

HMRC noted the concerns and said: “We know that over the last few months, self-assessment customers have been experiencing delays in receiving repayments and documentation indicating that a repayment has been made has confused the position.

“For some customers these delays have been substantial. We are sorry that this position has arisen and we are working hard to reduce the period between a repayment being agreed and it being issued.”