How often does anyone say "That was good service from HM Revenue"?
I'm going to - and please don't summon the men in white coats!
I'd been struggling to register my company, Home Business Accountant Ltd, for online filing for corporation tax. That's now compulsory. But every time I tried to register, I got an error message saying "either your details are incorrect or you're already registered".
I knew my details were correct. And I knew my company wasn't already registered.
Phoning the helpline left me listening to a series of recorded messages as I navigated a push-button phone system. And then at the end of them was another recorded message saying, "I'm sorry, we're really busy at the moment, we can't take your call, please ring back later".
They do have an e-mail helpline though. So I fired an e-mail off to them - and quite honestly wasn't holding my breath for an answer.
Then today, 2.24pm, in popped a message saying "Leave the trailing 0 off the start of your company registration number".
A sensible, practical solution... would it work? I tried it and... bingo!
Just a pity it took them nearly a week to answer my e-mail, but hey, they answered on a Saturday and solved my problem!
Thank you, HM Revenue!
And to anyone else who's trying to register for corporation tax online filing... leave the first 0 off your company registration number!!
