I blogged about this back on 4 July, but the issue has become more frequent and serious and therefore I will not apologise for writing about the matter again.

The big message I want to get across is this…… “Don’t Spend Tax Blunder Refunds”

Only last week HMRC admitted it had made mistakes in calculating the tax refunds of up to 100,000 of the 5.5m people the Revenue contacted in June over errors.

Now, for most, I suspect that if you received a cheque from the Inland Revenue stating that you had overpaid tax, then you would assume it’s correct, bank the cheque and spend it. However, recent events and admissions tells us that you cannot make the assumption that all is well.

Industry insiders have suggested that the refund debacle is down to the introduction of the real time information (RTI) system as it appears to be double counting tax returns and issuing spurious and incorrect tax codes.

The Treasury Select Committee has called on HMRC to explain the problems.

It does bring another issue to light, and that is the ongoing argument regarding whether HMRC should be allowed to take money directly from taxpayers bank accounts. If the Revenue cannot get tax codes right, then what is clear to me is that they should not be let loose on individuals bank accounts.

If you have received a tax repayment, and you are not sure if it is correct, then please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]