Receiving tax refunds which have already been paid

My wife and I complete Self Assessment every year, usually very soon after the end of the tax year, and usually receive a refund in a few days anywhere from a few hundred pounds to several thousand. Since the Personal Tax account was introduced, we have on three (once for me, twice for my wife) occassions received duplicate refunds from HMRC based on the Personal Tax Account assessment of the same figures already submitted by SA and refunds already received via that route. When I contacted HMRC about this a few years ago they said this was due to the two systems (Personal Tax Account and Self Assessment) not yet being in sync and this was being corrected. However, my wife is still getting letters from HMRC asking her to claim refunds that have already been paid via SA. She didn't claim the refund mentioned in a letter from December 2023 as we checked and that refund had already been paid to her, but now has been sent a cheque for that amount. It seems to be impossible to contact HMRC by phone to report this, my wife explained the issue to the robot voice on the phone that asks you to explain the issue. She said she had received a refund to which she was not entitled. It responded to say HMRC don't offer that service and cut her off. One option is we just don't pay in the cheque but I would rather she discussed this with HMRC. How do we report this?

Hi,

Apologies that this issue has not yet been updated to sync the PAYE and Self Assessment records.

To update your wife will need to contact our Self Assessment team.

Self Assessment: general enquiries

If she cannot contact HMRC by telephone or webchat she can return the cheque received with a covering letter to review. The address is:

HMRC, Self Assessment & PAYE,
BX9 1AS UK

Thank you.