Wrong NI Number...what should I do?

benfilan · 24 July 2008 at 8:07PM

Ok guys, quick backstory - left university last summer, been working as a temp for about 9 months. Not on a huge wage (only slightly above min. wage)

basically I was sorting out my payslips and tidying them up a bit and i noticed that the National Insurance Number that's on my payslips from the agency I work for isn't mine! I checked right back to day one and its been the wrong number all along. I've also noticed that's i've been getting taxed quite a lot.

What should I do? I don't even know where to start. Should I speak to the agency first or the ....inland revenue? would they be the ones to deal with this? am i in trouble :eek: :eek: :eek:

fengirl_2 · 24 July 2008 at 8:19PM

You need to contact the agency and advise them of your correct NI number. Are you on code 543L? If so, then your tax should be correct. If not, what code are you on, how long have you wokred there?
If you think you are due a refund for last year, you need to write to your tax office giving them your full employment history from 6/4/07 to 5/4/08, at the same time quotng the NI number shown on your payslips and advising them of your correct number.

benfilan · 24 July 2008 at 10:55PM

Yes thats the tax code i'm on, but isn't that an emergency tax code?

excellent advice, thanks!

fengirl_2 · 25 July 2008 at 8:22AM

It is emergency code if it is being operated on week/month 1 basis. HMRC needs to tell your employer what your previous pay and tax was for this year, so you need to ask them to do this.

CIS · 25 July 2008 at 8:32AM

You need to contact HMRC and advise them that your contributions have been paid on the wrong NI number - the team you need to speak to is the accounts investigation section. The Main Switchboard number is 0191 213 5000.

System · 25 July 2008 at 5:49PM

Is the National insurance number similar to your own or is it a temporary number which would be written as follows - TN123456A - where the numbers are your date of birth?

Either way you need to give the agency your correct number and then contact HMRC to see that your employment record is up to date. They may ask you to send them your P60 for the last year.

Richard019 · 26 July 2008 at 9:18AM

benfilan wrote: »

Ok guys, quick backstory - left university last summer, been working as a temp for about 9 months. Not on a huge wage (only slightly above min. wage)

basically I was sorting out my payslips and tidying them up a bit and i noticed that the National Insurance Number that's on my payslips from the agency I work for isn't mine! I checked right back to day one and its been the wrong number all along. I've also noticed that's i've been getting taxed quite a lot.

What should I do? I don't even know where to start. Should I speak to the agency first or the ....inland revenue? would they be the ones to deal with this? am i in trouble :eek: :eek: :eek:

Firstly you need to sort out your tax code with your agency as soon as possible. It might be worth ringing HMRC as well to inform them of what's happened

In terms of working out what (if anything you're due).

Have you been getting charged a lot for tax the whole time or just since April?

Unless you were working elsewhere whilst at uni then I expect you've paid too much tax for the 07/08 tax year. 5 months on on near minimum wage can't be much over your tax allowance so it should be a pretty nominal amount. I'm not certain but I think NI is a different issue and you pay based on that months earnings rather than it averaging out over the year.

If there's been an error last year then it's possible it's being sorted out by making lower payments than you should be this year. Due to the thieving from the poor to pay the rich tax changes this year that involves more than comparing your wage slips for March and April.

This site should be useful for working out what you should have been paying.

http://www.listentotaxman.com/

EDIT: NB, there shouldn't be a need to work it out for yourself but I would in case it turned out I'd paid too little tax. They would take it over time but I'd want to know in case I decided I wanted a new phone or whatever and committed myself to more expense out of what is, without wanting to sound rude a small wage packet.

benfilan · 27 July 2008 at 11:37PM

Pam17 wrote: »

Is the National insurance number similar to your own or is it a temporary number which would be written as follows - TN123456A - where the numbers are your date of birth?

Either way you need to give the agency your correct number and then contact HMRC to see that your employment record is up to date. They may ask you to send them your P60 for the last year.

its really similar - like two digits out.

thanks for the advice!

benfilan · 27 July 2008 at 11:41PM

Richard019 wrote: »

Firstly you need to sort out your tax code with your agency as soon as possible. It might be worth ringing HMRC as well to inform them of what's happened

In terms of working out what (if anything you're due).

Have you been getting charged a lot for tax the whole time or just since April?

Unless you were working elsewhere whilst at uni then I expect you've paid too much tax for the 07/08 tax year. 5 months on on near minimum wage can't be much over your tax allowance so it should be a pretty nominal amount. I'm not certain but I think NI is a different issue and you pay based on that months earnings rather than it averaging out over the year.

If there's been an error last year then it's possible it's being sorted out by making lower payments than you should be this year. Due to the thieving from the poor to pay the rich tax changes this year that involves more than comparing your wage slips for March and April.

This site should be useful for working out what you should have been paying.

http://www.listentotaxman.com/

EDIT: NB, there shouldn't be a need to work it out for yourself but I would in case it turned out I'd paid too little tax. They would take it over time but I'd want to know in case I decided I wanted a new phone or whatever and committed myself to more expense out of what is, without wanting to sound rude a small wage packet.

:money: :money:

I've been getting taxed right from the start, but in recent months its increased. I was wondering - is it possible that the genuine owner of the tax code is working as well - and that has increased the tax amount?

I don't know, I'd just like to get it sorted. I'm going to ring HMRC tomorrow!

thanks

jimmo · 28 July 2008 at 2:20AM

You clearly have 2 problems here. Tax and NIC.
Tax is my claimed speciality and I think the advice you have been given here is spot on
NIC is probably not so important to you at this stage because you have probably paid the correct amounts. However the important thing with NIC is the credits to your State Pension record.
In my days as a taxman temporary NI numbers were in the format indicated by Pam17 except that the final letter was either M or F.
So, it was TN (for temporary number), date of birth, and then M for male or F for Female.
Normal NI numbers end with A, B, C or D indicating the quarter of the year you were born in.
Temporary NI numbers definitely start with TN and certainly used to end with M or F.
If you do have a temporary NI number and it is 2 digits out from your date of birth then I fear that the credits you are entitled to for your state pension have little chance of being credited to you.
How important that will be to you when you get to pension age is impossible to predict but I think it would be better to sort it now.
Concentrate on the tax issues because they are now affecting you pocket but the NIC could be important later on.

facingthefuture · 28 July 2008 at 4:48AM

bump to knock spam out

Wrong NI Number...what should I do?

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