Can anyone think of a reason why HMRC would not refund the full amount of VAT back?
I sent in a clients first VAT return, due in at the end of January and sent in on the 14 January, so no late penalty, or any other reduction due, as far as I can see.
It wasn't a large amount, in fact only £4 under refunded (exactly).
It's not the first time a refund to client has been paid short of the amount on the return. I had another client with the same except with them they were late filing (their fault, not mine), so I accepted that they had paid penalties but perhaps that's not the case?
I suspect you may be right, however as it was all done online, I would have thought that that shouldn't have happened. (better go off and check that the typo wasn't mine !!!)
I have a similar thing with a self assesment but in the clients favour, which I am now trying to sort out.
I did returns for 3 partners, and submitted them online, all have equal shares and all the tax and prepayments schedules worked out the same. The clients paid by 3 cheques drawn against the partnership bank account, all for the same amount, and I sent them off seperatly, last week.
I don't like sending cheques, so thought I would see if they had hit their SA accounts yesterday. They all had been entered but one said a repayment was due, which I couldn't understand. I went through all his liabilities and payments for the previous years, and there was no outstanding payment on account.
It took a while for me to spot that whoever had keyed in the number had hit 9 twice, instead of 1 then 9, which overcast the amount paid by £800! Ho Hum, going to be sitting on the phone for ages now.
No, it shouldn't have happened if it was done online but then who knows what happens at their end. Probably they still have a manual process for requesting cheques!!
A mistake of £800 is quite impressive, well it would be if the client could get away with having it refunded and keeping it anyway! Enjoy the hold music....
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Jenny
Responses are my opinion based on the information provided. All information should be thoroughly checked before being relied on.