Incorrect penalty notices

The taxman is sorry. He has been sending out incorrect late penalty notices in cases where online returns were actually filed early.

The Fisherman knows of a tax adviser who received such incorrect notices for almost half of the clients in his tax practice. That gives an indication of the scale of the problem.

Apparently it was a computer error. But tell that to the tax accountants whose aggrieved clients, on receiving the penalty notices,  wrongly concluded that perhaps their tax accountants (to whom they pay good money for this most basic of functions) had not filed their returns on time. Unsurprisingly, many are exasperated.

And that is not the end of it. Taxpayers who have been sent an incorrect penalty notice must go to the trouble of appealing against it before the taxman will discharge the penalty. But good news (of a sort). The taxman has extended the appeal deadline until 30 April 2007. How nice of him to do that.

Mistakes by the taxman are becoming commonplace, and both taxpayers and their advisers are having to deal with the consequences. However, one wonders whether the taxman would be quite as forbearing if the boot was on the other foot.