JSA is taxable?

coffee_prince · 21 August 2009 at 12:30PM

Signed off JSA, got a part time job and gave my most recent p45 from my last job to my employer (that job ended in Dec 2008).

Now I recieve 3 letters from DWP, one of them saying all the jsa I recieved counts towards taxable income, and that I need to give my employer a p45 to fill in (which I recieved separately.

Quote in letter

We cannot check yoour tax position because of a ack of tax information. We have notified the Inland Revenue. They will pay any refund due, or if you owe tax they will tell you how it is to be collected

I've not earned anything yet this financial year, apart from what i got from JSA!

How does it work? I get paid in less then two weeks, will this mean I will get emergency taxed as these things take a long time.

The code on my old p45 from 2008 was 603L, the current p45 I got today says 647L

i'm only going to get about £400 for a months work and been living on a pittance this last month without JSA. I'm going to be livid if they emergency tax me.

I'm going to hand in the p45 to my manager today and see what he says, but it sems all very messy to sort this kinda thing out??

HELP!

Sharon87 · 21 August 2009 at 12:40PM

This happened to me.

What your employer should have done was give you a P46 to fill in - this is used if you don't have a P45.

I would expect emergency tax at the minute, so you're not disappointed when you get your payslip. I know it's difficult living off so little money, but you can claim the tax back (I even got mine back when I got a tax code). I spent 4 months getting emergency taxed.

If you have rent to pay as well you are still entitled to Housing Benefit (I'm assuming you were claiming it before)

fengirl_2 · 21 August 2009 at 12:49PM

What you have done is perfectly correct. The P45 has your correct code number on it and also, presumably the amount of taxable JSA received from 6 April to the date you signed off.
Your employer will treat this just like a normal P45 and you should not pay any tax on the £400.
Its not at all messy - its the way the PAYE system works, with pay and tax from one employer being passed on to the next so that your tax is correct.

coffee_prince · 21 August 2009 at 1:19PM

^ No The p45 I gave them was for last financial year as that was my last job and the only p45 I had in my possession.

I would've given them the p45 I recieved today if they had sent it to me early enough, but it took them three weeks and now I will be emergency taxed. I did not know JSA counted as income.

Its not realistic for them to expect me to give them a jsa p45 before I start mu new job, if they take so long to send it to me.

Not happy in all honesty.

I am on housing benefit, the rent isn't that much of an issue at the moment, I am trying to save up and clear some debt so its annoying when you have planned out a budget only to have it ripped to pieces.

Last time i got emergency taxed I only got it back at the end of the year... will this be the same?

fengirl_2 · 21 August 2009 at 1:24PM

You simply give your employer the new P45 and say that this is more up to date. It will be no problem for them to input the figures from this to replace the old one.

coffee_prince · 21 August 2009 at 1:29PM

Sounds simple but I am sure it will take a long time for my manager and then the tax people to sort this out, in the meantime i will be left with a bare minimum to live on. thanks tax system

fengirl_2 · 21 August 2009 at 3:28PM

The tax people are not involved - its up to your employer to use the P45 - if they don't, you need to chivvy them up!
Anyway, if you are only earning £400 for a month's work, you are below the tax threshold and won't be taxed, even on emergency code.

moongarden · 21 August 2009 at 5:10PM

coffee_prince wrote: »

Sounds simple but I am sure it will take a long time for my manager and then the tax people to sort this out, in the meantime i will be left with a bare minimum to live on. thanks tax system

The rate of emergency tax is almost the same as standard single person allowance so you should not be left with the bare minimum - in fact it will not be all that much different than your real tax code.

See information on HMRC website here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/emergency-code.htm#4

moongarden · 21 August 2009 at 5:18PM

by the way, yes JSA is classed as income so it will count towards your income when adding up all for the whole financial year but it is not much. if you were on JSA for the whole financial year then you would not pay income tax because the total JSA is less than the tax allowance.

From HMRC website:
Levels of Personal Allowance
There are three levels of Personal Allowance Personal Allowance 2009-10 tax year Income limit - see note
Basic level £6,475
Age 65-74 £9,490
Age 75 and over £9,640

Mirnish · 22 August 2009 at 12:57AM

Hi there,
JSA is counted as income. if you are earning around £400 a month it means your annual income will be £4800 which still means u r still within your personal allowance which is £6475 for this tax yar 2009-10 (meaning you dont get taxed upto that amount).
so if u are on emergency tax at the moment, the best thing to do is phone up your tax office and ask them to change your tax code to cumulative code and at the end of the tax year April send in your P60 to your tax office so u can claim back what u paid in tax.
i doubt that u will pay tax on JSA as u still have not earned over your personal allowance.

Hope this helps

JSA is taxable?

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