march salary paid in april therefore overtaxed

jkd2

Hi,

A query I'm hoping someone could help me with please.

for most of the tax year April 2009-2010 I was abroad and not earning a UK salary. I came back from overseas in March 2009 and started work that month (3/3/09). Therefore I only worked in the UK for one month out of the 12 in the tax year.

My employer though messed up and didn't pay me my March 2009 salary until April 2010. So in April 2010 i got in essence twice my monthly salary and... a whopping income tax chunk!

No Payroll say they can't help, HR don't know what to do and HMRC aren't too much help either. So essentially because my employer messed up and paid me late I got overtaxed massively when in fact I should barely have been taxed (if anything) on my march pay slip given that I hadn't earned anything for the rest of the year!

Any ideas what I can do to rectify this?

Any help would be much appreciated

themull1

I don't know, i would have thought payroll should refund the tax if they have paid you late, when in april did u get paid? beginning or end?

MrsManda

Contact your Tax Office (the one which is on your payslip) and speak to them.

HMRC Website: How to reclaim PAYE overpayments - this year

How you reclaim this year's overpaid tax will depend on your circumstances.
If you're an employee

Tell your Tax Office why you think you've paid too much tax. They may already have everything they need to check your claim. If not, they'll tell you what documents to send. You may get a new tax code, so any refund will be included with your wages.

Cook_County

How long were you absent from the UK?

Why did you leave this until April instead of getting an advance pre 6 April?

CLAPTON

you are taxed in the tax year you are paid and not the year that you 'earned ' the money
just like receiving back dated pay or delaid overtime
or interest on saving
etc

chrismac1

"for most of the tax year April 2009-2010 I was abroad and not earning a UK salary. I came back from overseas in March 2009 and started work that month (3/3/09). Therefore I only worked in the UK for one month out of the 12 in the tax year."

I don't understand this - March 2009 is in the 08-09 tax year, not the 09-10 one. Whether you are recompensed depends to a large extent on who you are working for. I used to work for a large employer which had people coming and going to and from different countries. Providing the people concerned had done the right thing - notified HR promptly when they came back to the Uk etc - these tax mess-ups were picked up by the employer. I am afraid from a tax law point of view that the date of payment is the one which applies. With the boot on the other foot, the same employer this year paid all bonuses for staff earning over £100,000 in March 2010 - the normal payment month being May since most of the final inputs to the bonus are only known in April.

Moving the payment date into March meant no-one had to take the 60% tax hit between £100,000 and £112,950 and tax law says that's fair enough.

jkd2

Sorry, I meant my March 2010 salary got paid in April 2010. Hence I lost out massively for the 2009-2010 tax year given that March was the only month I worked in that tax year. I got paid at the end of April.

I'm guessing HMRC won't give two hoots and essentially it's my employers fault. But knowing them well, they are not going to willingly refund me that money which was overtaxed due to their incompetence.

Employment tribunal?

Cook_County

You have not said how long you were out of the UK or - separately - why you did not sort this out before 6 April by asking to be paid?

Mikeyorks

It would have better been dealt with in April when the 'error' occured? At that point your employer should have been able to split the payment and recalculate.

If you're 100% sure that you were entitled (the operative phrase) to money in March, but it's been bundled into this year ........... then HMRC can recalculate it.

Read the section ('Employer deducts tax in the current tax year') containing this :-

Ask the customer to

• Send you their P60 for the relevant year as soon as they receive it
• Confirm the total payment and the amounts applicable to each tax year it covers
• Provide copies of any documents the employer has given them in respect of the payment

You should then calculate the tax due in all the relevant years

......... it normally applies to bulk payments for several employees ....... but (I can't drop on the better example for individuals) it's the same in your case if this was a genuine payment of arrears made in a current year.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pommanual/PAYE70023.htm#IDAT1JKB

jkd2

I was out of the UK from before april 2009 to January 2010. But I didn't start work until March 2010.

I did actually ask them to pay me in March. But HR messed up telling me they missed the deadline with Paryrol.

I raised the issue of the overtaxing in May. But they ignored my query despite several times contacting them!

jkd2

had a look at that HMRC doc, looks helpful. Will forward to HR. Thanks.