Tax rebate cost me too much

I saw an advert in a Unison magazine for the tax refund company TWD Accountants. It said TWD might be able to get me a tax rebate and charged 40% of any refund. I thought this was acceptable as I assumed there was a lot of paperwork for a minimal refund. It turned out that the NHS organisation I worked for had me on a basic rate tax code for three years, even though I had given it my P60. The payroll department says it didn't receive it. I had not paid UK tax for 10 years before that as I had been living overseas. TWD's fee came to £1,500. I appealed to the company that this was unfair, given it was an NHS error and the fee was unreasonable for the amount of work it had to do. But the company is not having any of it. JT, Port Sunlight, Wirral For TWD Accountants to earn £1,500, it will have recovered £3,750 in overpaid tax, of which you received £2,250. You didn't realise you were paying too much tax and, without the accountant, you still would be. So, although you lost 40% of your rebate for three years, you are now on the correct tax code and not paying a fee. In your case, TWD earned a hefty fee for little work but it won't consider a refund because, it says, Unison insists that it takes on every member who applies for its service. Apparently other tax refund companies cherry pick the most potentially profitable clients. It has to treat them all identically, which means not everyone gets a refund and people like you subsidise the majority who receive no refund. • Email Margaret Dibben at [email protected] or write to Margaret Dibben, Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU and include a telephone number. Do not enclose SAEs or original documents. Letters are selected for publication and we cannot give personal replies. The newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for advice.