HMRC Woes

Finally we get sunshine again

A woman’s fury knows no bounds. This is especially true when you are kept waiting on a phone line to the HMRC. The music is irritating. The constantly regurgitated information is incorrect and, as a result, my blood on Monday morning boiled.

The repeated message asks you to use the website for information. This is fair enough but my enquiry was not answered on the webpage. The ambient music grated. I was also told intermittently at 8am on Monday morning that wait times yesterday were up to forty minutes. The lines are not open on Sundays. Lies!

What is worse, I had to phone up twice and also phone the DWP as well. So, I had more than double the issues. Five minutes into my turn with the elusive HMRC I was finally stymied by a security question. What was the exact date I filed my self-assessment last year? How did I know?  The woman answering the call said she could only accept my first answer. My second phone call ended rather abruptly after I had given the woman an earful. Stupid XXXXX!

I am an older woman with a fading memory. When sorting out pensions the HMRC should take this into account. Sometimes I forget where I have put the kettle. I now realise I need a list of possible questions at my elbow so I can instantly find answers. Of course, I now know when I filed my tax return in 2023 and I could put money on it that I will never be asked the same question ever again.

My pension is due this May and I am somewhat short of a full one. Living abroad is part of the issue. The woman I spoke to told me to look up form NI38 and fill in form CF83. These forms are if you are planning to go abroad so I could not fill it in in retrospect. I have now written a letter and sent it snail mail to Newcastle Upon Tyne. Snail mail can’t be any slower than phoning.

In all, my waiting times were over an hour each time. This is over two hours in my life that I will never get back. There was even an article in the Guardian to say how the HMRC is failing us. Fiscal drag is partly to blame, apparently – who would have thought.

Telling Sammi about my issues, I found out that he too had been on the phone to HMRC at the same time. I blamed him. It must have been him blocking the line! We plan to co-ordinate in future.

Possibly as a result of the trauma suffered contacting the HMRC I spent most of the week being ill. I developed a cough and cold that kept me indoors and awake at night. I tried to keep going as normal but life was just too much. The upside of lying in a sofa for a few days has meant my heel is back to normal – total rest cured me!

So once Saturday came around, I said to myself that is time to get better. I set off on a walk to Stony to the Farmers’ market and then onto Wolverton. Walking was important as I needed to test my Achilles problem. I can say that both the bad chest and the poorly ankle are now fully sorted.