I'm concerned my employer isn't paying my tax

fengirl_2

MY advice is not incorrect - I was an Inspector of Taxes for 26 years. Please read my post again. HMRC will not divulge whether your employer has remitted the tax and NIC deducted from your pay to them. This is entirely different from telling you what is on their records as your pay and tax for the year - which is only information passed on from your employer. Tax and NIC goes to the accounts office, P60's go to your own tax office which is the office you have a relationship with. Its up to the accounts office to chase unpaid tax from employers, but that does not affect what is on a taxpayer's record. Once its on your record, you are credited with that tax and NIC, even if your employer has not actually paid it - thats an issue between the collector of taxes and the employer.

jobbingmusician

You could say that you have a part time self employed job (maybe as a mystery shopper ) and need regular payslips as you will now have to send a SE return to the taxman.

(Check before you use this story that your employer won't throw a hissy fit that you are doing SE part time work. But mystery shopping need only involve you in having some nice meals out, and writing things up for 2-3 hours a week).

andygb

Having worked as an accountant/bookkeeper for the last thirty odd years, I do not see how the employer could fail to make tax returns. If as the OP has already said, he used to get payslips and a P60, but this stopped, then the original records would show the tax deducted and the NI paid over. Obviously, I am looking at this from the point of view of someone who always keeps pay records, but this is so important.
Anyono, you say that you have a bonus coming up which will be taxed, how do you know? What kind of business do you work for? Does your boss have a bookkeeper, or does he do everything himself?
If your boss has two employees, then HMRC would be aware of this, unless he has at some time in the past told them that he is a "One man band".
Are you paid by cash or cheque?
Is the business VAT registered?
Have you kept any of your original payslips?
Finally, do not be afraid of approaching him, and asking him to start giving you pay records, it is your right. Don't worry about your tax situation, because you are employed by him, and it is his duty as an employer to pay over the tax and NI to HMRC.

PlutoinCapricorn

It is true that the employee is not responsible for ensuring that the employer passes on their deducted NI and income tax to HMRC.

However, if there are just two people who work closely together, in theory both might come under suspicion for collusion. Has the OP got the terms of employment with gross salary in writing, including annual pay rises if any?

Is it definite that the employer did register with HMRC: did that P60 have a tax office on it? If so, then surely they would chase him for suspected non-returns, so he can't be very far behind. Is it a limited company? If so, I believe that they are required to retain an accountant, who surely would have spotted non-payments.

This all shows that it is important to get everything in writing and be aware of employment laws, no matter how small a business is and even if they are all friends working together.

anyonu

It's a limited company, and they are VAT registered. My salary is paid into my bank account on a monthly basis. My concern is that the bonus I'm to receive will be 'taxed' and that the 'tax' portion of it will stay in the company bank account, rather than going to the tax man and I will just get a cheque for the amount, less 'tax'.

The P60 did have a tax office on it.

I might just be being paranoid about the whole thing, it's just that recent events have made me wonder about it. In fact I am also registered as self employed for a few jobs I have been doing here and there out of hours (also very recently). I haven't mentioned that, but I should be getting my pay slips for that reason for when I have my self-assessment.

nexuss

fengirl wrote: »

HMRC will not tell you whether or not your employer has been paying your tax and NIC - this is part of his tax affiars and is private. It is his liability, so if he hasn't been paying, he is the one in trouble, not you. You have to have a payslip by law and you can go to an ET if you dont get one. A P60 is also required by law and you can tell HMRC if you don't get one - this may alert them to other problems.

This is totally false (in my case) as they told me over the phone a few years ago if the company i was working for at the time ,had been paying my tax and national insurance.

nexuss

anyonu wrote: »

I haven't mentioned that, but I should be getting my pay slips for that reason for when I have my self-assessment.

Why would you have a self-assessment if you are PAYE ?

anyonu

Because I'm also registered as self employed for some other work I do outside of my full-time employment

PlutoinCapricorn

The very recent revelation that you are also self-employed makes it even more strange that you have not demanded payslips and P60s for so long!
How have you known how much to put in the Gross/net/tax paid boxes in the employment section?

As many people have given you the benefit of their advice, it would be good to know how it all turns out. I do hope that you discover that your tax and NI payment records are in order.

fengirl_2

nexuss - they broke Data Protection and by giving you this information which is confidential to the employer.