My wife's died. Well, according to Inland Revenue....

[Ollie78]

I must add that blaming Osborn is way off the mark (I am no fan of his). The the inland revenue has always been rubbish. Being self-employed from 1977, I had several issues with them, when Osborn was in short trousers, this cost me lost time and wasted money on accountants to fight my corner (and I was right). I believe the whole of the civil service has degenerated over the years and they are neither civil or a service.

It's like they do it on purpose. They audited me last year. Took many weeks of answering questions, often the same one 3 times, finding receipts for random things.
Basically assuming I am a criminal, it really stressed me out.

Turned out I had overpaid tax by a few hundred quid !!!
It must have cost them hundreds of pounds in man hours and letters to find this out.

Ollie

 

[dgs2001]

" Took many weeks of answering questions, often the same one 3 times,

Ahem. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to delete this part of your post Sir.

You've just inadvertently given away our secret investigative weapon, and opened the floodgates to millions of successful claims.
How will we ever claim back over paid benefits and tax if the masses realise we just want the same answer 3 times …

 

[HappyHacker]

It's a long time since I was a civil servant but a letter from an MP generally caused concern and was addressed very quickly. That is assuming the MP could be bothered to write a letter.

 

[Cozzer]

Right, chaps...

After just over an hour on the phone this afternoon, my dead wife has been advised the following :

"They" don't know why her identity can't be verified. There might be a problem with her 22/23 P60, but "they" don't know what it is....

So...

1) Get a new passport. "People have no problems using the HMRC Gateway account if they've got a valid passport."

2) Wait until the new P60 is issued in early April, and then try to log in and verified.

My God.
What a state.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Totally unacceptable - not sure what the fee is for a passport and your other choice is hope for the best.

I’d definitely be involving my MP.

 

[jcassidy]

SWMBO is from Italy where this happens so often that you can get an official 'certificate of existance' which you can bring to whatever arm of the State thinks you are dead.

"I'm not dead and here is a certificate to prove it!"

 

[NickDReed]

Right, chaps...

After just over an hour on the phone this afternoon, my dead wife has been advised the following :

"They" don't know why her identity can't be verified. There might be a problem with her 22/23 P60, but "they" don't know what it is....

So...

1) Get a new passport. "People have no problems using the HMRC Gateway account if they've got a valid passport."

2) Wait until the new P60 is issued in early April, and then try to log in and verified.

My God.
What a state.

Is it time to cut your losses?

I know that if my wife was declared dead and then several days later she was resurrected, I'd not hear the end of it! She already believes she's omnipotent, I can't bear her taking after deities as well...

 

[Robotstar5]

My last experience with HMRC was a couple of years ago when I informed them that my mum had died, I got a letter a few days later "sorry for your loss, she owes us £800 odd, please pay immediately"

 

[Mickjay]

My last experience with HMRC was a couple of years ago when I informed them that my mum had died, I got a letter a few days later "sorry for your loss, she owes us £800 odd, please pay immediately"

That works both ways though. Last year I informed HMRC that my mum had died and received the standard condolences letter and a refund cheque (in separate envelopes) in less than a week