second job tax question - worried!!

danlav

I've had two jobs for the past 3 years, one main full-time job with regular Mon-Fri 9-5 hours and a weekend job of 8 hours per week. I've been paying tax on my regular job, but haven't been paying anything on my weekend job. My main job has a tax code of 603L, second job has 0543L which gives me about £203 per month with no deductions.

Someone told me I should be paying a basic 20% and after searching online it seems they were right. I'm now very worried because I figure I owe the taxman something in the range of £1500.

Do i quit my second job, keep quiet and hope for the best? Do I carry on regardless or do I phone the tax office and ask them to look into it.

I'm quite !!!!ed off because I called my tax office to sort this out 3 years ago and the woman I spoke to told everything was fine, what can I do?

fengirl_2

The woman you spoke to 3 years ago could have looked at your records and seen that your second employer should have been operating code BR (basic rate) - which was why she thought everything was fine. Did you sign a form when you started your second job to say this was not your only job? If you did, your employer should have operated Br automatically without being told.
However, you are aware that the wrong code is being operated and the onus is on you to put things right. It is possible HMRC will eventually catch up with the situation and then you will be required to pay the £1500. You will have little excuse as this has gone on for 3 years and you have had payslips (and P60's I assume) showing no tax was deducted.