It's not just holidays which are being delayed this summer. HMRC have joined in and now repayments are being delayed also. In this blog we break down the current situation regarding PAYE Repayment Delays and give our opinion on the matter.

Who Is Affected?

In our experience, the main target for these recent delays have been individuals with PAYE Income who do not have an active self-assessment record with HMRC. You will know whether you have an active self-assessment record by checking whether you have been issued a tax return by HMRC. If you only have PAYE Income and are only submitting a tax return in order to claim a tax repayment (rather than to report income or because you meet other criteria to have to submit a tax return) it is likely that you do not have an active self-assessment record and will therefore be affected by the PAYE Repayment Delays.

Separately, some of our self-employed clients have seen delays in their tax repayment for other reasons. We have covered the new HMRC system for checking and verifying repayments in another blog post.

How Long Is The Delay?

HMRC have told us that this delay can be as long as 10 weeks. From what we have seen, the PAYE Repayment Delay is typically no longer than 12 weeks.

This is much longer than the usual wait time of 2 to 4 weeks experienced in previous years.

Why Is This Happening?

HMRC has not given a clear reason for the delays and specifically why they have to be so long. From what we have been told, HMRC want to check whether the taxpayer has received any other repayments under the standard PAYE system before issuing a tax repayment. However, this is a relatively quick check and shouldn't take over two months, so it likely that there is more going on than meets the eye.

For other repayment delays, HMRC have blamed increased online fraud, associated with the Coronavirus Pandemic for their increased caution. We have a guide on how to keep yourself safe from HMRC Scams.

How Can This Be Sped Up?

At Maximoor, we are trying a variety of methods to speed up repayment for our clients. If you are a client of ours and you think you may be affected by this get in touch with us and we will share some potential solutions and work with you to get you your tax repayment as soon as possible.