Pictured above: Steven Holden
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.
Elderly people 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.