They tarnished my good name: The Revenue and NatWest blame each other for freezing man's bank accounts

Published 26th Oct 2009

Filing his first tax return on time has left Gary Humphreys feeling like a criminal. Within a week the contracts manager for a utilities company had his bank accounts blocked and his good name tarnished --but the taxman cannot explain why.

To make matters worse neither Revenue & Customs nor his bank, NatWest, will take responsibility for blocking the accounts. Each blames the other.

As Financial Mail reported in June, the taxman has introduced a new layer of fraud checks when taxpayers send in a return that might lead to a repayment. These checks, run by the 'Room 101' Bristol Repayments Security Team, prompted widespread delays earlier this year.

But Gary's case is the first Financial Mail has heard of where an individual's bank account has been blocked.

The first Gary knew of any problem was when he was unable to access details of either his current account or Isa online. Gary, 43, who lives near Market Drayton, Shropshire, says: 'The screen was just blank with no details of any balance or past transactions.

'It was about 8pm and I was worried I might have been the victim of a fraud, so I drove to my nearest branch and put a card into the cash machine there. The ATM spat it out and a screen message told me to contact my branch.'

When Gary spoke to NatWest by phone he was told his accounts had been 'frozen by HMRC' because he was 'in dispute with them'. Gary says: 'This is a dispute that I still have no knowledge of.' He is adamant there had been no warning from either NatWest or the Revenue before the shutters came down on his accounts on September 15.

It took two days of frantic phone calls before Gary could get anyone to help.

'The bank said it couldn't talk to me and it was impossible to get hold of anyone at the Revenue who was either willing or able to help,' he says.

Eventually, one tax worker agreed to look into his case and was able to get the block on his accounts lifted.

Even so, it was another four days before his bank account was operating smoothly and meanwhile some direct debit payments had been missed. One was the service charge for the converted barns where he and his wife Karen, 37, live. Gary says: 'I'm a trustee of the complex and it was embarrassing when my payment bounced.'

Salt was rubbed into his wounds when, at the same time, Gary was sent a statement by the Revenue saying that, far from being in dispute, he was owed an £1,800 refund.

Asked to explain events, the Revenue said it had initial suspicions that 'the account holder might be fraudulent or the account might have been hijacked'.

A spokesman said: 'We had started to process a repayment on September 9, but decided to put a block on it and investigate further.'

The Revenue refuses to say what triggered its suspicions, although it now agrees Gary's claim is genuine. However, it had already got in touch with NatWest. The spokesman says: 'We never asked for the accounts to be frozen. We simply said, "we're keeping a watchful eye on this guy". It was the bank that decided to lock the accounts.'

At no time did anyone contact Gary to ask whether his tax claim was genuine or whether his bank account had been compromised. Gary says: 'I can't understand why no one got in touch. It's upsetting when you go into a bank and they look at you as if you are a criminal. I'm looking for an explanation of what went wrong and an apology.'

NatWest says: 'The bank was required to comply with its statutory obligations and this meant Mr Humphreys could not access his accounts for a few days. Unfortunately, the statutory obligations also mean the bank is unable to discuss the specific details in these circumstances.'

But other financial professionals are astounded by the sequence of events. Phil Berwick, head of tax investigations at national accountant McGrigors, says: 'If that was a client of mine, I'd be outraged. Normally, if there was a query on a tax return there would be an attempt to contact the person by phone or in writing before these powers were exercised.'

The Revenue says it has started an investigation to determine what exactly happened. And, following Financial Mail's intervention, Gary has received his £1,800 refund, although he is still waiting for an explanation from his bank and the Revenue.

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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