News
'One thousand' over-charged on tax bills
A glitch in the online payment system left many people charged more than once while paying the tax owed on their 2011-12 self assessment tax return.
Nearly 1,000 taxpayers were charged more than they should have been when paying their self assessment tax bill last week, it has been revealed.
Many had more debited from their account by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) than they should have done because of a system failure in the BillPay service, which is run by Santander Corporate Banking.
The Daily Telegraph reports that one taxpayer - Colin Jones - was charged twice, leading to £20,000 being taken from his account.
A spokesman for HMRC told the news provider that the focus is now getting funds back to those affected.
"We have already started repaying overpaid tax to those affected and we expect to have this work completed by tomorrow. Santander will cover any bank charges incurred by HMRC customers as a consequence of this incident," he added.
It comes after record numbers filed their 2011-12 tax returns online, with HMRC stating 7.98 million out of 9.61 million opted to do it through the internet.
Posted by Thomas Fletcher
Date published 6 Feb 2013 | Last updated 6 Feb 2013
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