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Is My Agent Lying to Me?

Question:
I applied for a tax refund for the fiscal year 2010/11 via an agent as I am in Romania. On the 20th March I received by mail the P800, issued on 8th March which said that I had overpaid by £669 and repayment will be made to the agent’s account in a few days. I have since called the agent and he said that the letter means simply that the file is under process and that he will call me but it has been over a month from the issue date already. Is my agent lying?

Arthur Weller Replies:
If you look on HMRC’s website it says that when a P800 is issued due to an overpayment by the taxpayer, usually the refund is received within seven working days so it is possible that the agent is lying. The first thing to do is to contact HMRC. Then when you have the facts ascertained, you can confront your agent.

I applied for a tax refund for the fiscal year 2010/11 via an agent as I am in Romania. On the 20th March I received by mail the P800, issued on 8th March which said that I had overpaid by £669 and repayment will be made to the agent
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This question was first printed in Tax Insider in September 2011.