One of my clients lived in Sweden a few years back, and the tax authorities charged him tax on income they believed he had made after he declared his income as nil. He had already moved to England before this particular tax year.
He asked me to help after HMRC began recovery action, as I have 64-8 authority on the UK side.
That's still ongoing but I have to say I am mightily impressed at the speed to which they reply to emails. Never more than a couple of days and sometimes the same day. No buck passing either, the guy in Sweden has been really helpful and advised what needed to be done next in order to resolve the issue, assuming it's not too late of course.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Hi John And the Germans. The complete MORONS at HMRC didnt sign the form required to get tax back from Germany...tried to say I wouldnt need a signature but the Germans have sent a very indepth email stating exactly what I need to send and they say they need that signature. I have more faith in the German efficiency wagon.
German Fed office emailed me back in less than 24 hours of me sending them a query. HMRC promised me a call within 3 working days, which never happened. When I chased and complained they said they tried to phone and it was only when I disputed this as I hadnt been out at any time during the said three days that they finally admitted to not trying because they couldnt verify my number - which I had given them in the first place. Then they tried to say as I wasnt the clients agent they couldnt answer my question. We then had a debate about the fact the Accountants are the agent and due to their dumb system that if I completed an Agent form it would knock the Accountants off their system and then they would have to send another which would knock me off. They have a letter confirming they can deal with me for this aspect alone and have done so in the past. TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL MORONS. Its still not sorted and one of the reasons why Im seriously thinking of packing this lark in (Im increasingly frustrated and actually bored rigid with it all!)
-- Edited by Cheshire on Tuesday 29th of September 2015 04:10:38 PM
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Oh dear Joanne, that doesn't sound good at all. It's times like those you think is it all worth it.Maybe we should move to Sweden or Germany lol.
I often wonder why our system is so messed up, fortunately I've not encountered any real problems with HMRC, but I know you and others have.
Part of the problem is that the system has been consistently drained of resources, and staff cut back to a level that they struggle to cope. I for one would not wish to be an employee in such an environment.
Do you think that the complexity of our tax system also is a big hindrance, I have read that the tax rules are one of the longest in the world, not sure whether it's true though.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
The final straw with this one was when they said I had to fax something over to them. I mean who has fax machines these days. Ok - I do have one with my printer but Im so bad with such things that I havent set it up yet. It wouldnt be so bad if you could email but no chance of that is there. I think part of the problem with the staffing issue as well John is that they have done what most big companies do when they get rid of staff - get rid of all the talented ones, as they cost more, but then never ever provide training. Plus that old phrase comes to mind - you pay peanuts, get monkeys. Would help also if they actually spoke in plain English in there help files, but hey ho - we are stuck with it. Ive calmed down today - woulve been so much better if they just said 'nope we didnt ring you, sorry!' but when they start on the daft excuses it gets me going - just like when Im talking to the bunch of nutters who work at my local branch of NatWest when they say they cant do something and I know they damn well can.
Anyway - back to being all
hope you get your Swedish thing sorted - sounds like you will easily!
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
I had fax to email when I first started and that was quite good, worked out about £30 a year. However I ditched it just before I changed to Ltd Co because I maybe used it twice a year. Given that you can scan anything and send by email it's all but redundant now.
Anyhow, it's great to see you all smiles again
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I have number one son arriving tomorrow to start work for me so his first job, after brewing up (of course) is to sort the fax machine/printer and sort Chrome out. Plus my set top box (although he can do that on his own 'be nice to Mum' time!! He has no idea how much of an 'orrible boss I can be! Ive already sacked my youngest brother! lol)
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
