Underpayment help please! :-C

lilacjaffa

Hi
I have posted on her before but my situation seems to be getting worse not better.
The HMRC have decided I owe them £3,600. I have 2 jobs and was given 2 tax allowances since I started 5 years ago. Even though the HMRC files on me show I only had one job I am expected to pay this money back. They still taxed me on the job they said they had no details for! I have complained twice and they still will not budge. If I don't pay by 23rd Nov then it will go through self assesment which I don't understand at all.
I have shown them payslips. I have never known any different so thought that my tax was ok.
Im going to write to the adjudicater but if they side with the HMRC then what do I do?
Should I ask the HMRC for a payment schedule? If I do this feels like I'm admitting It's my fault.
Any advice would be great.
Anna

Mikeyorks

I'm sure it would have been better to add to the previous thread? As it contained relevant information :-

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/37565706#Comment_37565706

You've said earlier that you earned £800 - £900 per month (£9600 - £10800pa) between the jobs. And that you've paid tax on both 'including the one HMRC say they don't know about'?

But you've posted Code numbers :

Job 1 my tax code has been 508L, 625L, 608L, 548L, 494L, 527L,
Job 2 my tax code has been 522L for 2007/2008 Ive also got 503L and 489LW in 2006

....... that suggest that would be at the margin, at most, as the combined personal allowances exceed what you say you were earning?

Are the underpayments totalling £3600 on P800s? If so - some figures might help.

lilacjaffa

I don't know how to attach my previous thread.

I paid tax on the job that the HMRC said they didn't know about but it was only a small amount each month.

As I said my pay has varied over the years. mainly I have earnt between £800 - £900 per month but due to overtime and bonuses it could be more.

£3.600 is the total underpayment I have been given by the HMRC, P800.

Mikeyorks

lilacjaffa wrote: »

I don't know how to attach my previous thread.

.

I've already done it - above.

Can't really help much if you don't post the P800 figures?

System

Did HMRC actually send you tax codes for both employments or did your newer employer operate a code off their own bat without instruction from HMRC?

If HMRC sent you and both employers the tax codes then it would have up to you to query the duplicate codes.

However if both employers sent P14's in to HMRC at the end of each of the last 5 tax years you could argue that they failed to use those P14's in a timely manner and correct your codes.

lilacjaffa

Hi

I have argued that point and they have said that the P14's are not used to calculate tax.
I don't know what else to do apart from give in :-C

Mikeyorks

Have you formally applied to them under ESC A19? :-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/esc/esc.htm

........ in my humble opinion you will fail the 'reasonable belief' test - as you've been 'earning £10k' and paying only marginal tax. Except if you have a total £3.6k underpayment for 08-09 and 09-10 ........ then I think your earnings are much more than the stated figure!

lilacjaffa

I have applied under the ESC A19 but they will not give me straight answer as to why that doesn't apply except that the infomartion given to the HMRC by my employer isn't enough.

My tax has been the same amount for the last 5 years. How would I know any different?

moneyfoolish

lilacjaffa wrote: »

I have applied under the ESC A19 but they will not give me straight answer as to why that doesn't apply except that the infomartion given to the HMRC by my employer isn't enough.

My tax has been the same amount for the last 5 years. How would I know any different?

I wouldn't take too much notice of what some people on here are telling you re it being your responsibility to understand what tax you should be paying. There was a Panorama programme on the subject last Monday evening and one of the cases was a chap who had received a demand from the HMRC demanding £11,380 in back payments because he had a salary and a pension and the pension had been taxed at basic rate for 6 years when he should have been paying the higher rate on it. In his interview he stated that the Revenue had been given the information to calculate his tax correctly and had not done so. He also stated that it was not his responsiblility to calculate his tax but was the job of the HMRC. After the HMRC was contacted by Panorama, it withdrew the claim completely! The only difference between his case and many others was that the Revenue didn't bother sending him a P800 but began taking the repayments directly from his salary!!!