Brown's bloody tax system

**Sockpuppet** · 16 June 2007, 10:47

MY dad started drawing his pension.

In the last 2 days he had 4 notices of tax code change as they couldnt get it right at the tax office.

Went from 522L > 503L > BR > 522L > 316T

I mean wtf?

**wendigo100** · 16 June 2007, 12:49

I've just filled in the HMRC child benefit form to say my daughter is staying on to sixth form. The reply-paid envelope is a quarter of an inch too small to put the normally-folded form in.

They take incompetence pills for breakfast.

**threaded** · 18 June 2007, 06:19

Originally posted by wendigo100

I've just filled in the HMRC child benefit form to say my daughter is staying on to sixth form. The reply-paid envelope is a quarter of an inch too small to put the normally-folded form in.

They take incompetence pills for breakfast.

Strange but true: on the automated systems I've written for the Danish civil service at several layers in the code it actually throws exceptions if they try and send a pack out with a prepaid envelope that is too small or has the wrong 'license', wrong return address, and they have to get a manager to OK sending a letter to someone who is 'dead', etc. etc.. Clever stuff if I do say so myself.

**Sockpuppet** · 18 June 2007, 06:38

But that only works if the system knows they are dead!

**rootsnall** · 18 June 2007, 08:28

I keep intending reading up on tax credits properly. Is it worth investigating, I'm assuming I'll get stuff all while I'm doing Ok on the contract front !?

**BoredBloke** · 18 June 2007, 08:54

With the tax and benefits sytem being so complicated I'm suprised that there hasn't been somebody set up in business in order to determine how you could maximise your benefits and claim the most money. Obviously this would not be a goer for the really needs, but the tax credits thing should be an easy one to do. I'd imagine that there are a large number of people who would qualify for the £500 ish payment a year who don't claim due to the hassle. If a company was to charge £100 a year to fill in their forms and deal with the revenue, then these people would be £400 better off.

**threaded** · 18 June 2007, 09:00

Originally posted by TonyEnglish

With the tax and benefits sytem being so complicated I'm suprised that there hasn't been somebody set up in business in order to determine how you could maximise your benefits and claim the most money. Obviously this would not be a goer for the really needs, but the tax credits thing should be an easy one to do. I'd imagine that there are a large number of people who would qualify for the £500 ish payment a year who don't claim due to the hassle. If a company was to charge £100 a year to fill in their forms and deal with the revenue, then these people would be £400 better off.

Well.....
In Doncaster some chummy broke into a benefit office and got hold of a book. The book.

This book then changed hands until it reached someone who knew how to use it. The village they lived in went from run down to quite well-to-do all within a few months...

Essentially because they knew what benefits they could claim and how to claim them!

The benefit office was not at all pleased, and I think the government actually changed the benefit rules significantly.

So, your idea has legs, but I think the people doing the service would be quite busy just keeping up with the rules changing as the benefits people try to put them out of business.

**thunderlizard** · 18 June 2007, 09:09

Yes there are lots of 'businesses' that do that - especially for people without fluent English. You probably haven't heard of them because they are run from the corners of cafes and pubs in depressing towns.

**The Master** · 18 June 2007, 09:15

It is a well known fact that the tax system was designed by the Cult of Skaro to ensure that come the invasion everyone will be too busy sitting around filling in tax credit forms to put up much resistance.

Brown's bloody tax system