Expert on TOP form
Published February 2010
A Midlands financial expert is on TOP form – volunteering support for a tax charity for older people.
Steven Holden, tax and trust manager for MFG Solicitors, has joined advisers up and down the country to join TaxHelp for Older People.
TOP is a service originally launched through the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group connected with the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
It is now provided by Tax Volunteers, an independent organisation, to make free professional advice on personal tax available to older people who could not otherwise afford to pay for it.
It is free to those with a household income of under £17,000.
Mr Holden said: “TOP is a very worthy cause and I am delighted to play a part.
“I plan to conduct four surgeries a year which will either be in or around Bromsgrove and Stourbridge.
“However, the clients cover a much wider area with quite a few coming from Halesowen too.”
Advisers deal with any tax problem, no matter how minor it may seem.
Mr Holden noted: “It may be having a PAYE notice of coding checked, or help with form filling, reclaiming an overpayment of tax, or replying to a letter from HM Revenue & Customs. It may simply be a tax health check to ensure peace of mind, knowing that everything is in order.”
Examples include:
Mr & Mrs A contacted TOP about a tax point. On investigation, it was found they had been overpaying tax for years – he was a 10 per cent taxpayer and she was a non-taxpayer. A total of £5,000 tax was recovered.
Mr B retired due to ill health and was receiving incapacity benefit and two pensions. A catalogue of errors then ensued when one pension disappeared off the HMRC computer, the incapacity benefit varied in their estimation by £2,000 and there was an attempt to tax Mr B’s disabled living allowance. Everything was eventually put right after a 10-month battle by TOP.
Mrs C was recently widowed and no idea what to do about tax. TOP sorted out her late husband's tax and got her own affairs organised.
The elderly can call the TOP helpline on 0845 601 3321 or 01308 488066. If the office is not manned, leave your name and telephone number on the voicemail and TOP will call you back.
