On being a media darling. For a day.
Yesterday I seemed to be in high demand with the national media. Before you get excited, it wasn't due to any Wayne Rooney style juicy gossip, but both the Guardian and the Times had decided that I was going to be their rent-a-quote for the day on that equally hot topic of the HMRC tax miscalculations.
In case this story has passed you by, almost six million people have been caught up in errors linked to a new computer system introduced by HMRC in June 2009, leading to around 4.3 million people paying too much tax through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system and around 1.4 million people not paying enough.
For those who paid too much, a cheque will in time be landing on their doorstep following a letter explaining the error. But for those who paid too little, the waters are a little more murky. HMRC will inevitably try to recover the money, but some financial experts are saying that the repayments are open to appeal.
The popular reaction (and what I think the Guardian and Times would have liked me to say) is that HMRC should simply write of the debts and that if it was their mistake then they should deal with the repercussions. This would save a great deal of extra work and angst, however I fear that the amounts involved are too great for that to be a viable option.
What would you have said to the papers? Have you had a letter - positive or negative? Would you pay up?
In case this story has passed you by, almost six million people have been caught up in errors linked to a new computer system introduced by HMRC in June 2009, leading to around 4.3 million people paying too much tax through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system and around 1.4 million people not paying enough.
For those who paid too much, a cheque will in time be landing on their doorstep following a letter explaining the error. But for those who paid too little, the waters are a little more murky. HMRC will inevitably try to recover the money, but some financial experts are saying that the repayments are open to appeal.
The popular reaction (and what I think the Guardian and Times would have liked me to say) is that HMRC should simply write of the debts and that if it was their mistake then they should deal with the repercussions. This would save a great deal of extra work and angst, however I fear that the amounts involved are too great for that to be a viable option.
What would you have said to the papers? Have you had a letter - positive or negative? Would you pay up?