Cheque from tax office

[Fullticket]

Mum died in February and since then all the relevant forms have been filled and sent off, all relevant people contacted and all the relevant processes have been adhered to. Things were getting back to normal, whatever normal is.
Why then, this morning, did the tax office decide to send her a cheque because she had paid too much tax last year?
It came addressed to her, in her name. Of course there is not a bank account in her name any more so I will have to contact them and discuss where the monies are to be paid and no doubt have to go through all the rigmarole of confirming she is dead, confirming who I am etc etc before they reissue it (if they reissue it). We are talking about just over £130 here so I may not bother but it is just the inefficiency that bugs me. They were quick enough to stop attendance allowance and state pension and ask for the overpayments...

 

[LynneMcV]

What a pain, just when you think everything's taken care of something like this happens.

I was lucky in that the tax office was in touch with me very quicly after my husband passed and the tax rebate he was due went straight into my account. I used the 'Tell Us Once' service which was ideal as every service that needed to know about my husband's passing was automatically informed. I suspect that is why it all went so smoothly - but I don't think it is available in every area.

I hope you are able to get the matter resolved without a lot of hassle.

 

[Logan]

It is a shock to receive documentation from Officialdom about which "they" should have been aware and sympathetic (some departments can be). It knocks one back for a moment, so take a deep breath. Tomorrow phone the department, ask them what they want to do about all of "this" mix up. That they should have been fully informed by the DWP etc and try to say C A L MMMMMM. I know how you must be feeling because one official department should have returned my Mother's Death Certificate to me, instead of which they sent me someone else's certificate. I went berserk on the phone to the department. They were very sorry and dealt with the matter. Take care and take deep breaths. These departments really do not always get it. Lxx

 

[jugglingmum]

They were quick enough to stop attendance allowance and state pension and ask for the overpayments...

State pension and AA are dealt with by DWP, HMRC deal with tax so if you didn't use one stop shop and didn't inform HMRC separately, then HMRC won't be aware of the situation. Their post backlog in some areas is dire - to the point that someone at work stood up and said, "why the hell isn't this being raised in parliament, lots of ordinary taxpayers are struggling on without knowing what is happening".

If you do phone HMRC you may well be on hold for 40 plus minutes and will still have to return the cheque and send your details and explain by post, so I'd just send it all back and not bother phoning. I phoned about one are of tax in late July and was told they are currently dealing with February's post, my colleague who ranted is trying to obtain a refund in respect of an amended return he submitted on 29 Jan, he was told the earliest this would be actioned is 8 Oct, and another colleague phoned about a letter she sent in 6 weeks ago and was told there was another 12 weeks delay on post being dealt with in that section. They seem to be months behind on everything, and require everything in writing, not by phone or email.