Paid too much....!

reetyre

Hi there,
Sorry about posting this on DFW board but I feel most comfortable here as
a) this is where I lurk most for my inspiration and
b) you lot are so nice, I am worried to go elsewhere in case they are mean!
Anyway, story is this - after 8 years in a well paid job in London I was made redundant in March this year and so we took the chance to get out of the city.
I started my new job in the Midlands at the start of September at a substantially lower pay (£9k a year less) I was expecting takehome on new salary (according to all salary calculators and the fact that hubby earns a similar amount) of c£1500 a month but I have just been paid & it is just over £1800!
Not only is this more than I expected, it is £300 more which is HUGE! I am hoping that there hasnt been a mistake and I wont have to pay it back, is this something to do with a change of my tax code? Any advice would be much appreciated - though I will appreciate much more anyone who tells me I can keep it!
Reety xx

huxley

Hi sorry no helpful information but i'll keep my fingers crossed that you get to keep it

LilacPixie

its hard to comment without knowing the full facts but did you work between march and now?? Could it be because you had not used any of your tax allowences this year??

reetyre

Hi Lilacpixie, Thanks for replying! I didnt work between March & now as I work in a very specialised job which meant I had to hang on in there till something suitable came up in the Midlands. How much tax allowance does a person get in a year? Does that mean I havent paid ANY tax this time?
I guess I will have to wait till i get a payslip - I was just resigned to a smaller pay packet and I got closer to what I used to get (not that I am complaining) :-p
Oh and thanks Huxley, I have fingers & toes crossed too - this board has helped me so much, as soon as I saw the extra £300 I transferred it straight into savings rather than decided on treating myself & hubby like I probably would a month or so ago! xx

LilacPixie

The ammount of tax allowance you get varies dependind on company benefits/age etc but a average tax code is 603l from this month which is £6037 pre year tax free or around £500 a month.

reetyre

That makes sense then lilacpixie, thank you so much for responding (and positively too!)
I will have a look at what my old tax code was in my last job then, though it may have changed since I swapped jobs & got a pay cut?
Any free money is good money I say xx

LilacPixie

As you left in March last year the basic tax code then was 522l I think.

mintymoneysaver

Also nearly everyone is getting an extra £50- £60 in their pay packets this month due to Gordon Brown's 10p tax thing! You'll then get an extra £10 or so for the next six months.

The effect of the changes on employees’ pay

The changes mean that employees paid on a monthly basis receive around £60 extra in September followed by an additional £10 a month until the end of the tax year.
For employees paid weekly there is an increase of around £53 in their pay for the week starting 7 September, followed by an extra £2.30 each week for the remainder of the tax year.
For employees who have paid less than £60 tax by the end of August this year, the September increase in pay matches the tax they had paid so far.

phantom9999

forget previous answer - I missed the bit about you not working (speed reading!) it is as meerkat says - you have unused allowances.

p

meerkat2007

If this is any help at all, assuming that you haven't worked since 6 April 2008 (the start of the current tax year), you will have all your tax allowances for 6 April 2008 to your pay date applied to your September pay.

The chances are that in October - assuming you are paid monthly - your net pay (after deductions for tax and NI) will drop back more in line with what you expected.

Hope this helps - but if it doesn't work out that way, please don't hit me! It's a long time since I had anything to do with payroll and PAYE!