What we do when HMRC make a mistake

Example: Construction Industry Scheme

A lot of our clients are self-employed subcontractors working in the construction industry. That means their pay is taxed before they get it under the Construction Industry Scheme. One construction worker asked RIFT to complete his tax return for 2015/16 for him. We checked that he had all his CIS paperwork and wage slips, and put his return together for him. One of our claims specialists let him know how big his refund would be. We sent all the information to him be sure he was happy with it, then filed his return with HMRC.

At this point, we would normally expect the client's refund to arrive in 2-3 weeks. However, HMRC contacted us and the client to dispute the CIS deductions listed in his return. According to the taxman, no CIS tax had been deducted from his earnings by his employer. As a result, they were demanding a payment from the client of £1,500.

RIFT got straight to work on clearing the problem up. We already had all the client's CIS statements, proving the tax had been deducted correctly. Using these, we fought our client's corner until HMRC backed down. Within a few weeks, the tax refund we originally calculated for him was paid out in full. As the client had given us his bank details, we were able to pay it directly into his account inside 3 working days.