BR tax code, please help

xirokx

hi,

just wanted to update to you all with regards to the situation.

I called the tax office responsible for my company and they said they would send me and my employer a letter advising them of my current employer within 2 - 3 weeks. If my employer recieves it in time before the next payroll run my tax code and the tax I have overpaid will be refunded in my next pay packet otherwise it will be carried forward to Dec payroll..

I am not required to complete any additional forms neither do I have to wait until april 09 to receive the overpaid tax back..

thank you so much for your help I really appreciate the support

Thanks in advance..

Londinium_3

Amazingly I have a very similar problem to you xirok. I am on the BR tax code, but didn't realise I was on the wrong code. I have been on this code since June 2007!

Is there any chance for me to receive all my tax back? I was working for an Umbrella company for 3 months before that and I am sure that my current employers received my P45 when I signed my contract in May 2007.

Have I lost my money from last year's incorrect tax codes because this wasn't noticed in the April 2008 assessments? I thought the IR assessed you automatically.

To be honest I've never been that great at understanding all of this, and now am extremely worried I will not get my money back.

blue_monkey_2

X, that is great that you got all of your money back. I am glkad this worked out for you.

Londinium, It will be fine. Do as X has done and give your tax office a call tomorrow - call the office that is noted on your payslip.

You have all your pay slips and P60's to show how much you have paid. In the same way if you underpay tax if you overpay tax you will get it back. It might take a bit longer as you will have to have your refund for pervious years from the tax office.

People think they are unhelpful but they are not and I've never had a problem with the tax office. This is why it is so important to keep everything.

Call the tax office, explain that you are currently on the Base Rate and that you should not be, this is deal with the problem for this current year.

Then you will need to make sure you have all of your P60's, or your payslip for the last payment of the end of tax year (Usually end of March payslip) as this will show the details of your NI number and how much tax you have paid. You will need to send them off (copy them) and then you'll get the money refunded directly from the Tax Office. It may take longer than a few weeks but any overpayments are refunded.

Years ago I was told I had underpaid my tax so I got everything together and went to the tax office and done it there and then (when you could, I am not sure you can do this now) but they wrote to me and it turned out I had over paid and I got a refund...... of £1. LOL.

This happened again a few years back when I had 2 jobs and because I was on Maternity leave I got a refund then too. I am guessing there are lots of people out there who have 2 jobs and in their 'main' job earn under the LEL and then pay tax on their 2nd jobs - which means that they would be entitled to a refund at the end of the year.

Londinium_3

blue_monkey wrote: »

...

Thanks for your support and advice blue monkey.

After panicking and searching through all my documents for the past few hours, I have found that my P60 is missing.

I do have all but one of my payslips since starting with this employer (the first one is missing I think).

I have all my P45s, and my last P45 does state that I left my Umbrella company on May 2007 with Taz Code 522L.

Every one of my payslips with my new employer state that I am on the BR tax code, and the March payslip does state how much tax I have paid for the year.

Is this enough? I'm really concerned that I can't find my P60. How do I work out which code I should be on and how much tax I should receive back?

Thanks for your help

blue_monkey_2

Yes, it will be enough. If you have have paid base rate tax on all of the £5450 tax allowance you should have had then you'll get that back. But give the Tax Office a call - the tax office noted on your pay slip as they now deal with things to do with your tax, and as with the above poster they will sort out things with your current employer and you should get a form to fill in. If you send the last pay slip (copy it just in case and send the original) they will be able to find your details from that (employee number/BR Code/etc.. will be tied up) and refund for Y/E 2007/2008 will be sent to you, anything owed currently to date will be refunded by your employer.

If you are still with your employer for this tax year that the P60 is missing then you might be able to ask them for a photocopy of your P60, they cannot give the original but I have certainly given a copy for Tax purposes in the past.

And then you'll know never to chuck your payslips/P60's out. It is a bit of a panic when you realise you need all those things you stashed away for 'safe keeping'. LOL!!

I've just been chased for 1999 contributions as my NI number had been written down wrong by my employer but I sent the P60 I had and it was all sorted within a 2 weeks. I really did think it would take longer but it is all done and up to date now.

Let us know what they say.

PS. For each week on BR you should have earned £110 tax free. If paying tax on this your overpayment would be around £24. So if you have overpaid from May to March it will be approx 40 weeks @ £24. The the amount for this year which will again be April to October so 26 weeks at £24 overpayment. These figures are approximate though, OK.

Londinium_3

Thank you so much. I can sleep easily tonight and will definitely let you know what they say!

Mary_Hartnell

Hi BlueMonkey,
Congratulations on the job you have done sorting out the first query.

I'm writing this on behalf of a friend, who is not a native English speaker (like the original poster?).

He is 18 months into paying the BR code, basically because he too did not begin to understand how PAYE works, let alone the mysteries of the tax year running from 06April to 05April.

However, we did a pension check against his National Insurance number, as he is thinking of going back to his country of origin, now that Britain is in a Credit Crunch mess, with a falling currency. The pension people have told him he has a pension accruing for 2 years prior to his arrival on our shores about 4 years ago.
So it is becoming obvious that there are TWO people with the same NI number, so no wonder Customs & Revenue think he is doing a second job!

I've just been chased for 1999 contributions as my NI number had been written down wrong by my employer but I sent the P60 I had and it was all sorted within a 2 weeks. I really did think it would take longer but it is all done and up to date now.

Surely this should be impossible as the NI number contains within it a "check digit" so the number knows it has been written down wrong as soon as a computer checks it? Do you mean you were given someone else's number in 1999?

Any thoughts on how to sort out this "identity fraud" ?

Mary.

PS I asked for a pension forecast and they wrote back saying I had a year missing in the middle of a job I did for 8 years. When I wrote protesting, I just got a letter that said in effect "OK then if you say so we have changed our records".
I'm wondering if anyone in the Work & Pensions department knows what they are doing?

blue_monkey_2

Hi Mary,

First off about the NI Number, no I do not think that it is a problem to be honest, the P60's are just entered into a computer for records. I had the P60 with all my details on it (works/payroll/etc) so it could be sorted. I just needed to send this in. Did they ask you to send a P60 when they said you had a missing year? I guess they have some way of checking and cross referencing.

In regard to your friend, the companies where I worked only employed one person who was not from the EU, the employee we did have, the company applied for a NI for him and then used it when it arrived. Your friend should have been issued an NI number, without this he will continue to get charged the Base Rate as you know. It looks like he has been issued a number that has crossed with someone elses so he will have to follow this up. As long as he has his P60's and wage slips it will be easy to sort out, he will have to get photocopies and send them off with information about what has happened.

As I say, at the end of the day someone puts the details into a computer, mistakes happen we are all only human after all. Tell him to give the Tax Office a call and they will sort it out for him. If he has a National Insurance number issued before now then he may be able to get a refund before he goes too.