New tax codes...

Jessycat

...If the new tax code is 647L why does my wage slip say 646L? I'm not trying to being petty over the £10 less tax free it means, it's a genuine query as to why it's different. I remember discussing tax codes last year and mine was 602L while most of my other colleagues had other tax codes, such as 603L, 604L.

Maybe I'm being very dim here but I really don't understand where the allowance comes from. A colleague is the same age as me, on the same salary but is married and his tax code in the previous year was 603L. Another colleague isn't married but has a child, works full time and her new tax code is 660L.

Can someone explain to me why they would be different?

Thanks.

PlutoinCapricorn

Could you have underpaid slightly in previous years? Could your colleagues have overpaid? HMRC sometimes make refunds/claim unpaid tax via PAYE.

jem16

The basic tax code is the personal allowance which as you say for this tax year is £6475 hence a code of 647L.

Anything different from that can be a multitude of things ranging from taxable benefits to paying back owed tax. You can also have extra allowances for professional fees and uniform washing.

Why don't you phone up HMRC and ask why yours is slightly different?

whitewitch21

I would ring and ask for a copy of your current tax code to be issued to you also. Then you should be able to see how it has been calculated.

trevormax

This wouldn't be an underpayment as HMRC do not collect on underpayments through PAYE of less than £50. Even if this were an underpayment, the amount that would be collected through restricting the PA by £10 for a basic rate tax payer is only £2 or £4 for a higher rate tax payer. If you were underpaid by £2 HMRC would write it off 99.9% of the time. Also in my time at HMRC I never once saw an overpayment issued in a tax code, it was always a payment made to the taxpayer.

The likely reason for your colleague having a 660L code is that he has to clean his uniform or has professional fees as Jem has stated. Your code being £10 lower suggests HMRC believe you are receiving some kind of benefit from your employer.

You should have received a coding notice by now for 09-10 but if you haven't, give you tax office a ring and ask for one to be issued to you.