Former nurse from Otley vows to take tax battle to Commons (From Wharfedale Observer)

Former nurse from Otley vows to take tax battle to Commons

8:00am Friday 8th March 2013 in Local news By Jim Jack

A retired nurse from Otley is vowing to take her fight to reclaim thousands of pounds of tax to the House of Commons.

Patricia Jacques, who was a psychiatric nurse at High Royds Hospital in Menston for 33 years, was shocked to discover she had been paying too much tax since retiring, in 1997, right up until 2010.

The 77-year-old has now received £3,100 back for overpayments made between 2006 and 2010, but is furious after being told she will not be able to claim anything else back for the preceding nine years.

She said: “I was quite amazed to find out I had been overtaxed for so long, since 1997, and to have been told I can’t get any more back.

“They have given me £3,100 back, to cover a few years, but say they can’t give me any more because 2006 is as far back as they can go, so they’ve done me for thousands of pounds.

“The Treasury assessors asked me why I hadn’t noticed that I’d been paying too much before, as I wouldn’t have lost so much then, but that’s not my job, it’s theirs – why hadn’t they noticed?

“If this has happened to me, it must have happened to a lot of other people, and the irony is I was actually working for the government, for the NHS, all those years, often doing double-time and overtime.

“Now it seems for a lot of it I’d been working for free.”

The Fairfax Flats resident is determined to fight the decision all the way, and will begin by handing on all the paperwork to her MP, Greg Mulholland (Lib Dem, Leeds North West).

She said: “I’m taking tablets by the bucketful to keep my blood pressure down anyway, and then something like this starts driving it up again.

“But there is no way I’m giving up. I intend to be repaid. I’ve written to the Prime Minister and every department I’ve been dealing with, and also had a word with the Ombudsman. I’m now waiting for a letter from the Treasury and will then pass it to Mr Mulholland.

“The Ombudsman has advised me to give all the documentation to my MP so my case can be raised in the House of Commons, and then it can be referred to him.”

A spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs confirmed there was a time limit for how many years back claims could be made.