HM Revenue and Customs

4. Ms H explains HMRC told her in September 2022 it would not pursue repayment of Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants. She complains HMRC contradicted its position and have since pursued her for full repayment.

5. Ms H said the upset and distress caused by HMRC’s mismanagement of the SEISS repayment has had a significant impact on her wellbeing. She tells us she was the main carer for her elderly mother and was also recovering from cancer at this time, so HMRC’s poor handling added further unnecessary stress.

6. Ms H wants HMRC to waive the SEISS repayment sum.

7. Ms H received £6,047 in SEISS grants between 2020 and late 2021.

8. SEISS was a UK government initiative which provided financial support to self-employed individuals whose businesses had been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

9. In October 2021 HMRC processed Ms H’s 2020-2021 self-assessment tax return (SATR) and found she was not entitled to SEISS. HMRC said this was because she had listed ‘income as a landlady’ under ‘self-employed’ instead of under ‘income from property’.

10. Having income from self-employment was mandatory to qualify for SEISS grants. Because Ms H’s income was from her property, rather than self-employment, meant she was not eligible for this financial support.

11. During the complaints process HMRC confirmed that because Ms H’s income was not classed as self-employed, she was not eligible for SEISS and would have to repay the grants she wrongly claimed.

14. Ms H said HMRC told her there was no outstanding amounts showing on her account after she agreed to pay £989.80 as part of a Time to Pay arrangement (TTP) in September 2022. She said this was misleading as HMRC later asked her to repay her SEISS grants in full.

15. A TTP allows customers who are unable to pay their tax liabilities in full by the due date to spread payments over a specified period.

16. HMRC said it did not inform Ms H that she no longer had to repay the SEISS grants.

17. Public bodies should aim to ensure that customers are clear about their entitlements, about what they can and cannot expect from the public body, and about their own responsibilities.

18. We can see Ms H called HMRC on 26 September 2022 and agreed a TTP for £989.80 in relation to a tax liability.

19. It therefore appears Ms H agreed a TTP with HMRC to pay £989.80 spread over a repayment period to cover her tax liability. This tax liability is not related to her separate SEISS grant repayment sum.

20. We have seen HMRC’s call note for the 26 September call. We can see that once the HMRC adviser had set up the TTP sum, Ms H asked about her ‘SEISS fine’. The HMRC adviser noted they were unable to provide information about her SEISS account and asked if Ms H wanted them to transfer her to the SEISS helpline.

21. The HMRC adviser said Ms H declined transfer to the SEISS helpline as she ‘was currently ill with COVID-19.’ Instead, the HMRC adviser noted they provided Ms H with the SEISS helpline number and confirmed the TTP was now in place.

22. We have seen HMRC’s letter to Ms H dated 27 September which confirmed the TTP arrangement. This letter made no reference to SEISS.

23. Based on the evidence we have seen, it appears Ms H contacted HMRC on 26 September and agreed a TTP for a tax liability sum which was separate from SEISS.

24. The advice she received during this call will have been in relation to her tax liability as the HMRC adviser was unable to access her SEISS account. The adviser specifically told Ms H she would need to speak to another team about arrangements relating to her SEISS overpayment.

25. Therefore, we are satisfied that any advice HMRC gave at this time about what sums were or were not outstanding on her account will have been in relation to her tax liability, not her SEISS grants.

26. We have seen no evidence to indicate HMRC was unclear or misled Ms H about what she owed. We see it handled these matters in line with our Principles.

27. For the reasons set out above, we have decided to take no further action in Ms H’s complaint. We recognise she has been through a great deal over the past few years and hope our statement clearly sets out how we reached our decision.

1. We thank Ms H for bringing her complaint about HMRC to our Office and we have carefully considered it.

2. We can see HMRC acted in line with applicable guidance and standards in how it communicated with her about whether to waive an overpayment of a grant she received.

3. For this reason, we have decided to take no further action in Ms H’s complaint. We appreciate our decision will likely come as a disappointment. We hope our statement clearly sets out how we reached our decision, and she finds the explanations we have provided helpful.