Guernsey residents wait years for tax refunds as accountants say many receive wrong assessments

A Guernsey accountancy firm has told ITV News that almost half the tax returns it submitted were returned with incorrect assessments.

The director of TCS Guernsey, Tim Chilestone, explains: "If we go by assessments that we have seen for 2022, which is the most recent year we have generally got assessments for, out of all the returns we have submitted, I'd say revenue services miscalculated around 45% of them."

Some residents also claim they have been continually chased for fines they do not understand and are waiting years for refund payments.

Simon French says he has spent years trying to get his late father's tax rebate of £200, adding: "I was told the case had gone on a priority list and the money would be paid again within a few weeks.

"I still haven't had any money and have since been told again that they aren't able to issue rebates or assessments, but if they can't issue assessments, then surely they must be guessing what people owe them.

"It's not really about the money because I will have to split that between my sisters, so it's not going to go far, but it's the principle of it. They owe money to me and my sisters.

"If I owed them money, I'd get a letter threatening court action, so why can't I do the same?"

• ITV Channel reporter Matthew Leach says many residents have been in touch to complain about issues with the Guernsey Revenue Service

Similarly, Danny Cook claims he has been tackling a tax bill of £1,500. He says: "Enough is enough, they need to get themselves in order so they aren't sending people out bills like this when people don't actually owe the bills.

"Every year, I get my tax and insurance deducted from my wages, and most years they end up paying me the money back.

"They send me a bill and tell me they are going to give me money, but on the other hand, they then say we want that back, telling me, 'You now owe us'.

"It seems to be happening too frequently. I just don't know what to do about it."

Adding to his frustrations, Danny says it has been difficult to get an answer from Guernsey's Revenue Service when he has tried to contact them.

He adds: "I have had nothing back from them at all, and I have sent letters.

"We sent the last bill in, a recalculation of that tax to 100% to make sure I owe the right amount. We worked it out and it came back fine, but then they are still saying we owe them £1,500 and I just don't know where they are getting them from."

However, the Guernsey Revenue Service stresses that assessments are correct in most cases and when there is an error, it can be down to taxpayers themselves.

Head of Service Delivery, Scott Bloomfield, explains: "It's a minority of people that will receive an incorrect bill, that's not always the fault of the Revenue Service.

"It may be that the details that were submitted by the customer were incorrect.

"The backlog is getting much better. We have been going through a transformation of our IT systems, and these are very much up and running, so we are able to start issuing more assessments.

"We have issued 9,000 tax assessments this year, 20,000 contribution assessments and approximately 500 assessments a day."

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