Lord Howard of Rising – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Howard of Rising on 2014-06-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much money was repaid to taxpayers as a result of overcharging by HM Revenue and Customs in each of 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12 and 2012–13.

Lord Deighton

The information is not available as HM Revenue and Customs does not collect information on amounts underpaid or overpaid.

For many of the taxes that HM Revenue and Customs is responsible for such as income tax and corporation tax, taxpayers are required by law to make payments on account before the ultimate tax liability for the year is known. This can result in overpayments, in which case the taxpayer would be due a refund once the final liability was known. But it can also result in underpayments, in which case HMRC would seek to collect the additional amount owed.

In either case, interest may be due to HMRC or to the taxpayer according to the statutory rates.