IHTM30551 - Erroneous or excessive repayments of tax: over-repayments to be reported

For audit purposes the office is required to keep a record of cases where, as a result of a mistake, too much tax or interest (including interest supplement) or monies on deposit has been repaid to the parties. This includes both cases where procedures have not operated properly as well as cases where monies have been repaid when tax was still outstanding.

As soon as you discover such a case you should refer the file to your manager who will forward it to the Product and Process Team (PPT) for recording. The manager should report the mistake on the same footing as when reporting tax and/or interest lost through departmental error and should give particulars of the steps being taken to recover the overpayment and any interest supplement. If after the standard 56 days the sums have not been recovered the file should be referred to Debt Management & Banking in the usual way to pursue.

If any part of the over-payment has to be written off, the necessary action is initiated in Debt Management & Banking. No action needs to be taken to recover, record or notify over-payments which do not exceed £150.