Blog: don’t mind admitting that I feel physically nauseous when the post arrives these days. And it’s got nothing to do with all that junk mail or even, for once, my credit card bill.

No it’s the thought that I will be among those receiving a demand for underpaid tax that is making me feel queasy and not just because I am fearful of the large amount of money I might have to find – money I don’t have.

But I am feeling increasingly angry, making my tummy twist and turn in knots, at the injustice of it all. I am a born worrier – yes one of those who fears the worst long before it has even the faintest chance of happening.

But with a maternity leave break in the last two years of my employment I think I could have more chance than most of a letter winging its way towards me, and with a glass half empty, I feel it will be declaring that I am in the red. Because I simply don’t know – I don’t have a clue if I have been paying the right amount. I doubt anyone other than a highly-qualified accountant would. And even then I have my doubts they would be certain.

That’s why even if one of those brown envelopes doesn’t land on my mat I feel incensed that the taxpayer should be treated like this. Frankly, if the Inland Revenue can’t get our bills right then how are we supposed to know if we are paying the correct amount?

And to now declare that interest will be charged at six times the base rate on those who will inevitably struggle to pay it back immediately is just adding insult to injury.

And I can’t see anywhere in this sorry saga how this mistake has come about by people lying or cheating or simply forgetting to tell those doing the all-important calculations the information so crucial to those sums.

This isn’t a case of a change in circumstances not being passed on. They had everything they needed and have made a right hash of it. The system is just too complicated for even the qualified to get it right. So how on earth can we mere mortals understand it and in what possible way is it right that we should be carrying the can for something we had no part in devising?

Simplify it, give us a chance to actually work out ourselves if we are paying the right amount and if we don’t then, fair enough, I firmly believe we should hold our hands up and say fair cop.

But this is a farce of epic proportions and one which is really going to impact on families at a time when they are already facing financial hardship. The Treasury has promised to make the process as “painless as possible”. Today that looks like the worst kind of empty promise. Starting by declaring repayments would be interest free would be a start.

They have also allowed those owing small underpayments a “get out of jail free card” as such. Where has it promised that same amount would be deducted from those bigger bills being clawed back?

Again whose fault is it in terms of how much is owed? Certainly not ours and, as they say, every little helps.

And even if we come to terms with what is happening who out there can now even trust that these latest amounts are accurate? They couldn’t get it right in the last two years so what’s so different now?

By Tracey O’Sullivan