HMRC and the long wait

Last year, I was lucky enough to receive a letter from Her Majesty's revenue and customs (HMRC), telling me that for the tax year 2004 - 2005 I had overpaid tax and was due a refund. Wahey!

The letter stated that I would be sent a cheque and that I should expect to receive said cheque within the next six weeks.  It is not often that someone writes to me out of the blue to tell me they are sending me money, so I happily sat next to my letterbox and waited for what felt a bit like a lottery win.

I am sure it won't surprise you to know that the cheque didn't arrive but to be honest, I wasn't that bothered about it.  If I had received the cheque when I was told I would, I have no doubt I would have frittered it away on unnecessary Christmas presents or (totally necessary) I-pads and Fender Telecasters.  I (or rather my lady) is due to give birth to our first child very soon and so my not frittering the cash means I can buy some new carpets, a cot and some sleeping tablets to see me through the night.

New Year came round and I gave HMRC a call to remind them about my tax lottery win. They said that they would cancel the first cheque and send me a new one but that this might take up to six weeks.  It never arrived.

I phoned again last week and today and essentially the cheque is yet to be issued and that I should give it another three weeks!

Now, the very polite and helpful customer service staff have tried all they can and I have no gripe with them.  Neither do I really have any gripe with HMRC themselves, it can't be easy to provide the administration for the 26 Million or more tax payers there are in the UK. The law of averages says that someone's cheque will go missing and this time it just happens to be mine.

No, the problem I have is the problem I have with so many large corporations such as these and that there is no accountability, culpability or fairness in the affair.

The on-line personal tax filing deadline is midnight on the 31st of January.  If you miss that deadline you get a fine. Instantly. No ifs not buts, you get a fine. If you are lucky enough to be able to afford or need a personal tax adviser, they may be able to get you off the fine, but for the Everyman like myself it is a fine and that is that.  So why do I or we not get to fine them?  Why is it that I, the person entirely in the right, am not allowed to now request an additional £100 for their negligence?

How did we sleep walk ourselves into the situation that even though we are the buyers, we have no power.  If you are a friend of mine on my Facebook page you will know the almost daily gripe I have with South West Trains, who treat their customer as a hindrance to their business.  I get perpetually wound up not only by the fact that South West Trains feels it can treat people so badly, but more so by the fact I can't do anything about it. I can't change train company, I can't talk to the owner I can't do anything, except redundantly shout at the internet!

If your local shop keeper is rude to you, you have the buying power and choice to take your money elsewhere, but you don't with the companies and business that you really need to get you through your day.

I don't know if you feel the same but it really winds me up.  I should have been a rockstar.

Auto enrolment and advertising.

In October of this year, Government legislation regarding workplace pensions will come into action. Depending on who you work for and how big the company is, you might be one of the first or you might be one of the last, but the fact remains that unless they alter the legislation, you will be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension over the coming years, unless you decide to opt-out.

This post is not about discussing my position or thoughts on the auto enrolment legislation, though I will say that on the whole I think it is a good thing.  This post is about the lack of information being presented to the very people that this affects most of all - us.  You, me and every other person that has an annual income of over £7,745.

If you don't know about auto enrolment (and I doubt you do because of the lack of information out there), I will summarise.  From October 2012, every person earning £7,745 or more will legally have to have a workplace pension, unless they "opt-out" or choose otherwise.  This will involve you, your employer and the Government paying money into a pension scheme to save for your retirement. 

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has decided that (for now) they will not be placing television adverts to inform people about the auto enrolment.  TV is by far still the largest medium for mass notification of a message and forgive me for me sounding elitist, TV is also arguably the medium most used by people on lower incomes/the demographic of people that the auto enrolment workplace pensions legislation was set up to help.

The pension changes will not only affect us it will affect our employers too, but they are finding out plenty because every pensions' salesman or representative is telling them about it (whilst rubbing their hands together and polishing their horns).  The mass population however, is being given very little information and as it currently stands your employer has to give you only a months notice about your auto enrolment.  That is one months notice in which you will find out that your already diminishing household income is to diminish further.  Yes, ultimately it is being invested into your future, but that doesn't help you budget when you unexpectedly find that next months pay will be £50 down.

I find it worrying.  If you don't know about the auto enrolment, what it means and what your rights are,  you are not in the best position to make an informed decision about whether you should opt out.  Whilst I wouldn't want to tar all employers with the same brush, from a business position the auto enrolment legislation is not a good thing.  The cost of employing someone has just gone up by three percent, so why would a business want you to stay opted in?

I would like to stress that an employer or business is not allowed to encourage you to opt out, but if I weren't telling you that, would you know?

This is why it is so bad that there is so little information available to the everyday people that this will affect.  If you opt out of the workplace pension you will be lose out on additional income that you might not have had.  

Extra money. 

For you. 

Get yourselves informed.