The deadline for filing UK income tax is 31 January. You can only file online now - the paper deadline passed some time ago. I need to file, as I have employed and self-employed income to declare for the last tax year, when I was fully resident in the UK.
Accordingly I went online between Christmas and New Year intending to file. Lo and behold, you have to register, following which they send you an activation PIN in the post, and only after you receive this PIN can you actually complete the process. Well, I'm still waiting for my PIN to arrive. Apparently it was sent on 5 January. It's supposed to take 7 days to receive - but that's in the UK of course, not in Oklahoma City.
I've also received an email to say that if I don't activate my online registration by 4 February, the PIN will expire and I'll need to start the whole process all over again. This produces the possibility of a never-ending cycle of applying for PINs which then expire before they arrive, stretching away into infinity.
Yesterday I phoned both the Inland Revenue and the online filing company (which, of course, is a separate, private company, contracted by the IR to perform this service) to complain. I spoke to two ladies in call centres, by the sound of it in Glasgow and Newcastle respectively, each of whom told me there was nothing they could do to help, and advised me to phone the other one for advice. It would be quite funny if I wasn't facing the very real possibility of having to pay a penalty for late filing.
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2 comments:
Beaurcracy - isn't it great? The right hand never knows what the left hand is doing - because there are no brains controlling the situation! Filing here in the US is about as much fun! Raquel
Yes, I'm looking forward to that!
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