When Fife Territorial Army reservist Tom Wilkie was called up to use his nursing skills to care for British soldiers injured in Afghanistan, little did he think he would become embroiled in another battle when he came home.
But that is exactly what happened after tax authorities waged war over his personal allowances on his return.
He took on the might of HM Revenue and Customs single-handed but struggled to make any progress, and it was only when he called up reinforcements in the shape of his MP Lindsay Roy that it finally surrendered and Tom won his fight.
Tom, who lives in Methil, is a captain nursing officer serving with 205 Field Hospital in Edinburgh, although when he was mobilised in September 2007 he was with 201 Field Hospital based in Newcastle where he then lived and worked.
Following his call-up, Tom was posted to the army field hospital in Camp Bastion in Helmand Province where he spent the next five months tending to the injured and dying.
However, after returning in February 2008 he is now a staff nurse at the Forth View Care Centre in Methil his tax troubles began.
During his time in Afghanistan, his income tax personal allowance was correctly transferred to his HM forces pay and transferred back to his civilian job when he returned to the UK.
However, the problem arose because it took HMRC 10 months to issue the army with the relevant tax code, meaning that he received two personal allowances and ended up owing £1400.
Several hundred pounds was repaid through the tax system in 2008/2009, but another assessment still left him with over £800 to pay.
Based on information from the army pay centre, Tom complained to HMRC that it had not acted in an efficient and timely manner because it took so long for the mistake to come to light and its refusal to look at the 2007-8 tax year when the original error occurred was unfair.
Repeated calls to the tax authority got him nowhere, however, and in January he received a letter from HMRC rejecting his complaint and telling him he would have to repay the money.
But Tom, who is still in the TA, refused to back down and contacted Glenrothes MP Lindsay Roy, who wrote to HMRC and urged it to think again.Hunt called offHis intervention has paid off. The reservist has now been told that HMRC has accepted that it did in fact act inefficiently and will not be chasing him for the money.
Tom said, “I was banging my head against a brick wall until Lindsay took up the case and I can’t thank him enough.
“My concern was not just for myself, but for other reservists if HMRC are taking this long to issue tax codes to HM forces when they return from active service, it would be little wonder they would leave the reserve forces.
“In my case, I have served between the regular and reserved forces since 1985 and found the mobilisation process and returning to civilian life process by the MoD very efficient and seamless, but this has certainly not been my experience with HMRC.
“Considering the amount of reservists being mobilised for service in Afghanistan, surely HMRC must have a policy for making sure that tax problems do not make this process of serving our country more stressful or problematic than need be?”
Mr Roy said he was glad to take up Tom’s case as he felt he had been badly treated.
He said, “He put his life on the line to look after those fighting to keep Britain safe and should not have been faced with a hefty tax bill through no fault of his own.
“I am delighted that HMRC has seen sense in this instance but, like Tom, I am also concerned that other reservists who serve their country may have encountered similar problems and hope that the tax authority will take a long, hard look at its procedures.”