tax refund?

hannah29_2

hi

i was made redundant in dec 2004 and have just started working again. i have been a stay at home mum not claiming any benefits for the past few years. i have a few odd payslips but due to moving some have been misplaced. is there any way i can find out if i am entitled to a tax refund. if i need to contact a local tax office would that be the one i am with now or the one where my previous employment was?
thanks hannah

chrismac1

You have until 31 jan 2011 to make a claim so need to get your skates on. It is likely that you will have paid too much tax in tax year 04-05 if you did not have another job before 6 April 2005, but it won't be very much. My estimate is £322 providing your taxable income excluding redundancy pay (which should have been tax free so long it was an approved redundancy) was higher than 6,765. This is because you will have been given just 9 months' worth of what was then a 10% starting band, and tax-free allowances.

But if you earned nothing more during Jan, Feb and March then the way PAYE works you'll have lost out on your ration of tax-free allowances for those months, and the tax impact of this will have been £322. I'd suggest writing to the tax office of your local employer along the lines of this post and asking for £322 plus interest. Recorded delivery so you have evidence you sent the letter before 31 jan 2011. There is currently a 13 week mail queue which takes us until 5 Jan 2011 before your letter gets opened, plus in Jan it will get worse as all the self-assessment people in the land also have a 31 Jan 2011 deadline - all too easy for HMRC to "lose" your letter until say Feb or March and then "sorry, you were too late it had to be with us by 31 jan, bad luck."

Tarasam

Ring 0845 3000627 and see if HMRC already have the information on the system that you cant find. If all the infos there then they'll be able to process your tax refund without you sending anything in writing.
If some info is missing then they can take steps to get the info for you OR give you time to try and re-get the information, plus it'll be logged that you're trying to reclaim the monies.

chrismac1

I'd do both then. I am very wary of phone calls - too many from both myself and clients have later been denied as having taken place by HMRC staff. So anything they tell you on the phone should be followed up in writing in my view. Trust them at your peril!

John_Pierpoint

kellyshay wrote: »

Ring 0845 3000627 and see if HMRC already have the information on the system that you cant find. If all the infos there then they'll be able to process your tax refund without you sending anything in writing.
If some info is missing then they can take steps to get the info for you OR give you time to try and re-get the information, plus it'll be logged that you're trying to reclaim the monies.

Won't this have been left behind on the old computer system?
If the account had been correctly reconciled, against the employer's PAYE return, would the tax payer have been told?

dori2o

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Won't this have been left behind on the old computer system?
If the account had been correctly reconciled, against the employer's PAYE return, would the tax payer have been told?

The details from all 'in years' i.e. 03/04 onwards (at the time the new paye service was introduced) was transferred onto the new system so in theory all pay and tax details should be held.

As with all PAYE assessments whether done on COP or NPS, if the tax liability is within the deminimus limits then no output is issued to the taxpayer.

The tax payer can request a copy of these assessments where HMRC has deemed the year 'Balanced', however, I would always advise against doing this as any tax that has been 'written off' as it is below the limits becomes payable at the point the taxpayer requests a copy of the calculation.

hannah29_2

ok for information only i rang the number above and got a very helpful lady called julie, she pulled up all my details, did some calculations and told me i had already had my refund in 2004 so nothing was owed either way, it took all of 10 minutes. i dont remember getting the refund however it was a few years back and my brain is not what it used to be!!!
thanks for all the advice
hannah

Mikeyorks

0/10 ........ for wasting everyone's time!

10/10 ...... for getting through to HMRC on the 'phone

...... and todays bonus ....... for getting someone helpful.

dori2o

Mikeyorks wrote: »

0/10 ........ for wasting everyone's time!

10/10 ...... for getting through to HMRC on the 'phone

...... and todays bonus ....... for getting someone helpful.

It gets me with people complaining about getting through to the TAX office. Can't speak for tax credits as I don't work on that line, but for the past 2 or 3 weeks it's been dead on the phones from 8am till 11 am (ish) and then from 5/5:30 onwards the same.

suso

dori2o wrote: »

It gets me with people complaining about getting through to the TAX office. Can't speak for tax credits as I don't work on that line, but for the past 2 or 3 weeks it's been dead on the phones from 8am till 11 am (ish) and then from 5/5:30 onwards the same.

mind you I believe today was quite good for getting through on the phone.

Mikeyorks

dori2o wrote: »

It gets me with people complaining about getting through to the TAX office. Can't speak for tax credits as I don't work on that line, but for the past 2 or 3 weeks it's been dead on the phones from 8am till 11 am (ish) and then from 5/5:30 onwards the same.

I'll bear it in mind when ringing about the refund that I've been waiting for ... for over a year now. Straight forward CITR case and monumentally cocked up on at least 3 occasions.