News that tax inspectors are so overworked they are making up bills will come as a surprise to one Scottish taxpayer. In her case, the taxman has been so meticulous in his calculations that he is pursuing widow Janet Craig for 16p.
Mrs Craig insists the money is not owed. In fact, she says the Revenue should be reimbursing her for the #7 she has spent in postage and long-distance telephone calls from Edinburgh trying to sort the matter out. Alas, Hector the Inspector has continued to hector her - although she followed his instructions to the letter, ensuring a self-assessment return was in by the end of September. Her bill was calculated at #85.92, but pensioner Mrs Craig was told not to pay until a formal demand arrived. When it did, the deadline for settlement was seven weeks gone, and 84p ''overdue'' interest had been added. Protesting she was not at fault, Mrs Craig deducted this from her cheque - only to be told she would be charged still more.
Hoping to get the increasingly distressing business resolved, she sent the Revenue #1. But she was then told interest had accrued to #1.16. The inspector is refusing to write off the 16p and will carry it forward to next year's bill. IR adjudicator Elizabeth Filkin says: ''It's absolutely crazy. It will cost far more than 16p to collect this.'' CheckOut is sending the details to Mrs Craig's fellow Edinburgh citizen, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Alistair Darling.
An Edinburgh company is launching what's claimed to be the UK's most comprehensive public transport planner, using a unique software system that includes all Britain's air and rail services. As well as giving travellers times, transfer details, optimum routes, and means of travel, JourneyPlan provides car hire and other useful information. A one-off copy of the current timetables is #25. A one-year subscription, including new software at
each timetable change, is #85. PC-based, it runs on Windows 3.1, 3.11, 95, and NT, and comes on three floppy discs.
To order a copy or find out more phone Linsay Harrow on 0131 226 4853.
THOUSANDS of Scots risk being sold over-priced, inappropriate holiday insurance, it's claimed today. Direct Line's Great Escape survey suggests most holidaymakers who bought insurance from a travel agent or tour operator during the last 12 months were not properly advised, and many of Britain's 15 million package holidaymakers could be in the same boat this summer, it is feared. The survey follows an investigation by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) into anti-competitive practices in the package holiday market. Direct Line's travel insurance managing director Graham Ross tells CheckOut: ''Holidaymakers can spend up to four months planning ahead, but the majority have less than five minutes to discuss their insurance needs.''
When arranging insurance you are advised to shop around. Consider an annual insurance policy if you go abroad regularly, and don't pay for needless cover - home contents policies may already protect against loss or theft of personal possessions.
Winners of Check-Out's high-performance Persil Tablets: W Wright, J Pollock, J Gray, C Coyle, C Hamilton, M Stewart, and D Dean, all
from Glasgow; J Bateman,
A Drew, and A Fraser, all
from Edinburgh.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article