Yesterday I got a lovely letter through from the Inland Revenue regarding my PAYE and NIC contributions and talking about ways and means to avoid ‘recovery proceedings’. This worried me a little to say the least so I phoned them up to find out what was going on. The person at the other end of the phone started asking about how I filed my P35 and when, so it was on to the accountants next. This resulted in a bit of slightly frustrated explanation from the accountants.
The basic issue seems to be a lack of internal communication in the Inland Revenue itself. My P35 was filed electronically and the confirmation email was received on the 10th May. Unfortunately there seems to be a massive backlog of these, and the receiving department is not notifying the department chasing them which ones they have received. According to my accountant they have, on a number of occasions, had to print and photocopy all the documentation they have – including all the electronic filing printouts and emails – and then send them to the Inland Revenue. Not only is this more than a little ridiculous because they should be managing to communicate within their own organisation, but it also defeats the point of doing the filing electronically if you then have to print and photocopy everything to send in anyway.
Thankfully it seems that they have had one too many ear bashings and are happy to take my word for it over the phone – well, they are at the moment. I wouldn’t put it past them to forget I even phoned!