Classic British Flight Sim

As you are aware you can soon apply to have part of your married tax allowance transfered over to your spouse or vice versa. The whole process is by internet connection to the official site. I applied last month to have some of my wifes' allowance passed over to me and on Saturday I received a reply from them. As you are also aware the government in their wisdom decided to close a number of tax offices including the one in Lincoln and as I rely on the library to access the internet I am not too happy that this is the only way to apply, also what infuriates me regarding this process is that they are wanting me to confirm my ID. Fair enough I say but.........I am certainly not happy about sending them the details they are asking and certainly will not be continuing with my application.

Now you may say they need to be sure that they are dealing with who you say you are but at the same time they could find that out by asking for my address, National Insurance Number, and the tax office that deal with me i.e. pension etc.

Sorry, but I am fed up with having to give personal information to people that I have never met yet alone know and also how secure the information they are given is!!

BTW This is just a personal rant but my wife also agreed with me!!

Late Edit: What if those who do not have a driving license or passport???????????

Gov.uk Team <[email protected]>
Apr 18 (2 days ago)

GOV.UK

HM Revenue & Customs


Hello Nigel Howard-Jones
Thank you for taking the time to register for Marriage Allowance. This new allowance starts from April, and you will be one of the first couples to be invited to apply online. We will send you an email when the application system is up and running, and give you all the information you'll need.
To apply for Marriage Allowance online, you will need to confirm your identity through the Government's 'Verify' service. For this you'll need a valid UK passport or UK photocard driving licence, along with information about your finances such as a recent credit card or mortgage statement.
This email is just to keep you up to date, so there is no need to contact us.

Ruth Owen
Director General, Personal Tax
HMRC

Nigel.

Hmm..

If I'm not mistaken.. either SWMBO or me (or even both of us) have used the 'Verify' service before to change our driving license details online rather than use the post. I can't recall us having to send bank statements for credit card and/or mortgage details or similar It has to be said though that no movement of money was taking place. I could be wrong of course and SWMBO would undoubtedly put me straight in an instant She's back to work today so I can't confirm this but I am sure either one or both of us have used the government 'Verify' facility.

I do wonder what happens to folk of a certain age or those without access to a computer or the internet. This said.. the probability of a friend or family member NOT having internet access these days is getting remote. I see this first hand with customers I deliver to. Many oldies are surprisingly computer savvy and order things themselves while others have things ordered by close relations. Still.. it does assume a lot.

ATB
DaveB

I can't recall us having to send bank statements for credit card and/or mortgage details or similar

Hi Dave

I do not have a problem verifying my ID but I do have one when it comes to giving information regarding my finances!!
If they do want details of my finances they can obtain that through my tax office instead. It may be me getting a bit grumpier in my old age and rather stubborn but if they want information regarding my finances then they can bl**dy well forget the application process 'cause I won't bother!! Equally there is also my NI Number that they can have along with DOB and other personal details such as address and cross reference that with me tax office instead.

Sorry, getting me started again this!!


Regards
Nigel.

Hi Nigel, like you,I also received this response from HMRC and like you I have some reservations regarding security of the info required.Being somewhat slightly cynical HMRC probably realise this and will therefore save loads'o'money in not giving tax relief to those who qualify! EricT

I don't know about being cynical Eric.. if anyone there was honest enough to give a straight answer, you can bet that this is factored in to how much the scheme is 'likely' to cost. They can produce figures saying X amount of people qualify and it will cost X amount to fund knowing full well that only a small percentage will 'take them up' on the offer and the cost will be considerably less. There.. another saving made

ATB
DaveB

Dave,SWMBO doesn't have a credit card and we don 't have a mortgage and she only receives a partial state pension so I suppose we'll have to own up to the million pounds stashed under the bed!.You can bet that if the uptake is less than projected due to security concerns on behalf of recipients then some overpaid bureaucratic instigator will have his or her hand out to receive their bonus! EricT

I am a bit surprised by this, as I have never had any difficulties with the HMRC website : I log on with my user name and user ID, created when you join the government gateway. I hope that the site has not been hacked - I frequently receive e mails telling me that a refund awaits me, but it always contains Americanisms which immediately show it is a fraud

Ah.. the 'Gateway'.. that's it Chris

ATB
DaveB

Hi Nigel, like you,I also received this response from HMRC and like you I have some reservations regarding security of the info required

Hi Eric, I don't have much faith with government security after all, if someone can access the Pentagon like a 15 year old did, see here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=119423

Then it can happen to anyone.

Anyway, as I wrote earlier, I am not going to be bullied into giving out my financial details just to save around £200 pa.

Regards
Nigel

Nigel, I should say that when we moved to Edinburgh,for some reason we started receiving annual short self assessment tax forms from HMRC.Mine stopped after a couple of years but SWMBO continues to receive them.In fact this years arrived two days after the start of this financial year.The point being that they will already have the details that they are asking for.How many times do they need to be told.
Incidently, after completing each years forms, she has received a refund due to savings being taxed when she is below the threshold.I know that a non taxpayer can receive tax free interest by completing an R85 form which we now do,so maybe that's the reason for receiving the self assessment forms. EricT