HMRC charge taxpayers twice in error
Mr Jones said: “I understand these things happen, I’m quite philosophical about it, but I find it so frustrating that they can’t give me resolution on when it’s going to be resolved and when I’m going to get my money back, and who’s going to pay me compensation for the interest charges I’m incurring.”
He added: “One lady I spoke to [at HMRC] said I was best off looking at their website. I thought that was bizarre.”
Mr Jones said: “I want my money back as quickly as possible and I want some recompense for the interest I will be charged and a small amount of compensation for the time, effort and inconvenience at my expense.”
A spokesman for HMRC said: “At the end of January, Santander experienced technical problems with their BillPay system resulting in some people making more than one payment. 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.”
The HMRC spokesman said they had contacted Mr Jones “to put matters right”.
A Santander spokesman said: “We are liaising with HMRC on this matter. If there was an issue relating to payments made through BillPay on January 31, we will ensure that any refunds due will be reimbursed, along with any associated costs.”
The BillPay service is available to UK card holders paying their self assessment tax online, with payments taking three working days to reach HMRC.
The tax office received more than 280,000 self-assessment tax payments on January 31, with payments that day totalling more than £2.3 billion.
A record 9.61 people filed their tax return before the January 31 deadline last Thursday.