UKC

I just had a letter from my payroll department informing me that if I don't pay a large sum of money to them by October 1st they will take legal action to get back the money that they claim I owe.

It's a bit of a complicated situation, but I'll do my best to explain.

I'm a contractor working in France and when my contract started, I had money witheld from my pay every month to pay my tax in France (no PAYE in France) at the end of the French tax year. My agency use a French accountancy firm to file tax returns on our behalf, but I opted out of using them and did my tax myself. The witheld money was returned to me and I used it to pay my tax bill.

This is where it gets complicated.

I then get an email informing me that even though I opted out of using the French accountancy firm, they filed a tax return for me and allegedly paid the tax on my behalf and I now owe the tax, plus a fee for using the accountancy firm.

Obviously I disputed this as I had opted out and the accountancy firm had no mandate to do anything on my behalf. In a phone conversation to them they pretty much admitted that what they have done is illegal.

I followed up what they told me with the French tax office and managed to get hold of a copy of the return that they filed. They somehow fiddled the figures so that I ended up not owing any tax and I'm not sure where the disputed money has gone or if it was even paid. They created another me that was non-resident and didn't owe tax and I filed my normal tax return for me, who is resident and paid the tax due.

Given that I personally never received this sum of money and all the dodgy goings on with the accountancy firm, do you think they have a leg to stand on? I have kept copies of all correspondence relating to this matter and can prove that they received my opt out form and that they admit making the error by continuing to engage the services of the accountancy firm with my authority or knowledge.

This has dragged on for over a year now and it's getting to the stage where it feels like harassment. I've spent hours writing emails and making phone calls to the French tax office and to the accountancy firm trying to sort out their error and now I get threatened with court action.

The other problem is that I have just been offered a new contract with them and am scared of losing it because of this. Luckily recruitment and payroll are in 2 separate offices and don't talk to each other, so I'm ok for the moment.

Cheers in advance for any advice.

Phil

In reply to Phil Payne:

Mate, you really, really need to ask a proper specialist about this.

Not a standard soliciitor and certainly not a bunch of blokes on a climbing forum!

In reply to Oceanrower:

You're absolutely right and I will do that in the morning. The person from payroll emailed this to me as they walked out the office this evening and I'm still in a bit of shock. I've never had anyone threaten to take m to court before and I guess I just need to vent.

My main concern is that I am in France and worried that they will win by default if/when I don't turn up and I end up ith a CCJ and bailiffs knocking on my mum's door.

In reply to Phil Payne:

What Oceanrower said... And let the payroll fascists know about it.

In reply to Phil Payne:

Just read the first reply again as I obviously read it too quickly and didn't take it in the first time.

What would a 'proper specialist' be?

I've never had to deal with any legal matters before, so just assumed I need to speak to a solicitor.

In reply to Phil Payne:

I would say a specialist in employment law.

This would think this is a bit more complicated than normal "soliciting" especially as it seems to involve two jurisdictions and possible fraud by an accountancy firm!

In reply to Phil Payne:

Sounds like a f*ckin nightmare buddy.

I'd crosspost this over to /r/legaladvice on reddit. Perhaps no one will reply, but you might end up with a specialist in employer/employee law who can guide you on what steps to take (or who to talk to).

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice

In reply to Phil Payne:

Sounds like a French jurisdiction issue really. Get an employment lawyer on that side of things working for you. Good luck.

In reply to Phil Payne:

You will have a much better understanding of the details of the relationship you have with the company as a contractor and how the company is arranged and operates, so use your judgement here, but in your situation I would seriously consider e-mailing the big boss, i.e. managing director/owner detailing the problem and copying in everybody involved (possibly state that you are unsure what is going on but you are worried about being implicated in some kind of financial fraud) I would imagine they will start falling over themselves to get it straight before the boss asks what is going on.

In reply to EddInaBox:

I only received the email at close of business hours last night, so it was too late to be able to call anyone. My plan this morning is to find an avocat here in France who specialises in fiscal matters and then possibly go amd have a sit-in at the accountancy firm until they sort it.

I have a contact number for one of the company directors, so I will be calling them this morning as well, but knowing how they work, I don't expect to get very far.

In reply to Phil Payne:

Update:

I've spent all morning writing emails and making phone calls. My agency's position is that they returned the witheld money to me in error and they want it back because they allegedly paid my tax for me. They can't prove any payment and the French tax office only have proof of the payments made by myself for my personal tax declaration.

I'm waiting to here back from the avocat that I contacted this morning after he's had a chance to review all the documents that I sent him. His initial feeling is that I definitely have a case against the accountancy company that submitted a false tax return and doesn't think that my agency have a leg to stand on if they try to recover any money from me.