Past President of CIOT doesn't understand his tax code?

If you were one of the most highly respected and experienced tax advisers in the country you'd probably know something about tax codes. And that's certainly true of Richard Mannion. He's head of the National tax function at accountants Smith & Williamson, a Past President of the CIOT and a recipient of the LexisNexis Taxation Lifetime achievement award.

AccountancyAge is reporting that Richard recently called an HMRC helpline as he'd noticed his tax code was incorrect. Imagine his astonishment to be told that he didn't understand the coding system!

I'm sure Richard stood his ground in his normal polite, gentle but firm way and that his tax code is now correct. But what chance the unrepresented taxpayer?!