Gripe of the day - What is yours?

[Kenzie]

I might go look at an A6 tomorrow, but it's a diesel. I'm a little unsure tbh. Got lots of toys though.

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[redtrummy]

Car 20 yrs old. bike 1 53 yrs old, bike2 24 yrs old . Most used cycle 38 yrs old - I am just a coward.

[Kenzie]

Haha, my Civic is 22 years old this month. I paid £3000 for it in 2007 and it's done well until now.

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[garynortheast]

Most of the morning spent on the phone to British Gas about the now closed electricity account I had with them (now with Octopus, thankfully) and the current gas account. Spent 20 minutes on the phone waiting to speak to someone, as the person on the chat thing didn't seem able to do anything much. 20 minutes of a loop of some grim piece of muzak.

Now on the phone to Powys County Council. Another loop of muzak while I wait to talk to someone about solar panels. Losing the will to live.............

[admin]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

Most of the morning spent on the phone to British Gas about the now closed electricity account I had with them (now with Octopus, thankfully) and the current gas account. Spent 20 minutes on the phone waiting to speak to someone, as the person on the chat thing didn't seem able to do anything much. 20 minutes of a loop of some grim piece of muzak.



Now on the phone to Powys County Council. Another loop of muzak while I wait to talk to someone about solar panels. Losing the will to live.............

"your call is very important to us"

"We're experiencing large call volumes"

"Most problems can be resolved by visiting our website"

Customer care is pretty poor these days. No one invests in it as it doesn't produce a revenue stream.

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[Seeker]

HMRC - it's tax time again (for me). Yet again the Self Assessment form has changed. I started paying the "on account" thievery last tax year and assumed that it would be deducted from this years tax liability (apparently, it should be) but I haven't found the correct box to enter the figures (so until I sort it, I'm paying twice the tax) plus the usual hassle with foreign income.

I've had to break down and consult a tax preparer, appointment on Tuesday. Paying taxes isn't nice but at least it should be easy.
I think the SA form should start with 1 question - "Have you received any additional forms of income?". If no, you get last years form so you can just enter the new figures. Simple.

[garynortheast]

So glad I don't have to wrestle with the poxy self employment tax forms any more.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

So glad I don't have to wrestle with the poxy self employment tax forms any more.

Lucky you.


This "on account" scam is an awful system and having spent a while googling it seems many others are confused too. It looks like the SA form assumes you haven't made any "on account" payments until you submit the form for the new tax year at which point HMRC records deduct the prior tax years "on account" from the current one (which may take 72 hours to show). What could go wrong? Also, if you don't pay enough you get interest charges but pay too much and they merely refund the overpayment.

This is why I need to speak to a tax preparer, it seems so screwed up.


Edit - with further investigation it seems you are responsible for deducting the prior years "on account" from the current years - what a system.

[Seeker]

Self assessment "on account" again.
Summary: say your income means you owe £2000 tax year 21-22. HMRC will want a further £2000 "on account". So Jan31 you'd pay £2000+£1000 and July31 you'd pay £1000. I get that.


Tax year 22-23 you owe £3000 (from income) so you'd pay £3000+£1500 Jan31 and £1500 Jul31. Which is where is breaks down for me - you're now paying double tax unless you can deduct "on account" 21-22 from 22-23. This point isn't explained anywhere I can find.


The tax preparer wasn't much help - I can understand him not wanting to give away his business but to be told I didn't understand the system multiple times didn't help my mood.

I had two basic questions - if you paid £1000 (x2 Jan31 & Jul31) "on account" for tax year 21-22 and HMRC are now saying you need to pay £1500 (x2) for tax year 22-23. do you:
1) Deduct the amount and pay the difference
2) Enter the value somewhere on the tax form.


Initially the tax preparer kept telling me it's the system when you have to pay the on account amounts. I tried to point out it meant you were effectively paying twice the normal amount of tax since the "on account" amount was half your "normal" tax bill (calculated from your income) paid twice - unless you only pay the difference between successive tax years.


Eventually he got my point and said you have to enter the prior years "on account" value but wouldn't tell me where because of "liability" issues.


He wants £220 + VAT to do my taxes. It's no good, I am going to have to call HMRC - wish me luck (this morning the estimated wait time was 60 minutes so I'd need to charge my phone).

[admin]

FFS. It shouldn't have to be this hard.

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