HMRC is consulting on cutting the time workers have to reclaim overpaid National Insurance contributions from six years to four. Just as Healey prepares to give the taxman the power to raid bank accounts like a bandit…
HMRC insists it simply wants the deadline to match the one for income tax. That love of consistency disappears when it comes to its own powers though, because the same proposals would extend the period HMRC has to pursue unpaid contributions from six years to twenty…
The consultation contains no estimate of the cost to households and no transitional protection for claims that are valid today, so anyone owed money for 2020-21 or 2021-22 who has not yet claimed it would lose it. HMRC says no decisions have been taken and claims (hilariously) that nobody will be disadvantaged. Who on earth believes this?
UPDATE: Andrew Griffith, Shadow Chancellor, said:
“Labour are scrambling around for cash ahead of the Budget, and ordinary taxpayers are being made to pay the price.
This is another example of a Government that is always looking for ways to take money from the public, but makes no effort to make life easier for the people paying the bills.
Labour’s plans risk leaving ordinary people out of pocket through no fault of their own. That is fundamentally unfair. They should focus instead on making HMRC more accountable, simplifying and lowering taxes so we can get our economy moving.”
Robert Jenrick told a rally on Monday:
“They say Chancellors are either undertakers or bookies. This one is an ostrich – and when the Chancellor buries his head in the sand, the rest of us, we’re left staring at his you know what.”