I have been told that my authorisation to deal with two of my clients has expired - althought in both cases the "until my tax credit appeal is dealt with" has been ticked - it appears that the rules have changed this is not a valid choice and a date should have been entered and because it hasn't I am allowed only 4 months which has gone. Is it just me they are getting at - can they design a form make up the rules and then change them in mid-stream - I am dispirited. any succor anywhere?
julie

i don't know the their rules, or what authority they have for them - this doesn't sound right, in view of the wording on the form, but it certainly appears to be unnecessarily OBSTRUCTIVE and bureaucratic. if they have a four month rule with any legitimacy, which frankly, i doubt, it must surely pre-suppose that the matter would be resolved within 4 months - and where it hasn't, flexibility and common sense could reasonably be expected...

i fear you are dealing with a volgon, and suggest a complaint and request for copy of the written guidance and policy.

you could also request information on the current clearance times and targets for appeals, if you should find when you receive copies of the rules, that you want to question their reasonability.

it's merely a method...

jan

Hi Julie,

We have been advised by the IR External Team that it is ok to put "indefinately" on the TC689 form to say for how long you will assisting clients. However, they were surprised to learn that many of our clients are "lifers", in terms of the duration of their contact with advice centres.

Sadly, I have heard stories of IR staff rejecting "indefinately", in which case you could put "July the 3rd 2068" or whatever. I bet you that would be fine, because it is an entry that the IR computer would find acceptable.

How dare you suggest that the IR make rules and then break them. Next thing, you will be telling me that they don't abide by their own COP26 guidance of overpayment recoverability!

Steve

I have had the same problem. I made a omplaint to the Customer Services team, about the time they were taking to make a decision on recovering an overpayment.(over 6 months) I enclosed a new Authorisation letter, knowing how fussy they are and that the letter was going to a different section than the original request.

7 months later (with other letters and MP involvement), I get a reply saying the Authorisation is out of date and they cannot tell me anything. I pointed out, extremely politely, that if they had answered my original letter within a reasonable time scale, even their arbiterily added expiry date would have not caused a problem. A further letter of complaint is on its way.

thank you all for replying - it is good to know it is not just me
julie

they refused to discuss an appeal case with us despite having received 5 authorisations on their authorisation form and appeal form - is this a record.

It took extreme persistance to get the helpline supervisor to check with IR offices and ring me back to confirm that IR did infact hold authority. Needless to say they couldn't answer the enquiry I actually rang about!

I was given 01908 - 250329 as the fax no to forward complaints about help line to.

01908 is Milton Keynes' dialling code - first I've heard of a helpline complaints being dealt with there; helpline complaints are fielded by Revenue 'Contact Centres', separate from TCO seemingly (although they're in Salford).

I put these words down merely as record, not to impart any meaning to them.

I think that every time a TC appeal form has been filled in with a rep's name and they refuse to deal with you it needs an official complaint. But then you'd do nothing else, which is of course what they rely on in the first place.

The number of appeals 'settled' by saying it's about overpayments, or putting an authorisation hurdle in, or saying 'we changed this by 1p in a TC602 issued to your brother's donkey in 1978', which then get no answer and are assumed to be OK, must run at about 99.5%.