Any advice?

hillbilly5

My hubby has just found out that his tax code has been wrong for the last 4 years as his employer had never informed the tax office of his company car. He didn't realise as he knows nothing about tax and you assume that your payroll dept will get things right. Others in the company have also been paying the wrong tax as they have been taxed for cars that they had years ago and not the replacement cars that they were issued a couple of years ago.

Its looking like there is going to be a hefty underpayment. Does anyone know how long the tax office allow you to repay and is there any recourse with his employer as we have found out that they should have sent in a form within 3 months of him being issued the car to tell the tax office.

Any advice would be appreciated as its a really worrying time.

bumpybecky

My DH underpaid due to his company health plan thing over a period of about 18 months. The underpayment was collected through his tax code over more than one tax year, I think it was a similar time frame that the underpayment had been. Hope it's not as bad as you think

Murdina

Did he get a form P11D each year showing the amount of the benefit?
The employer is meant to give him this every year. If they did and he did not check that the right amount was shown on his coding then very hard to argue he was not aware of the situation.
If the employer did not give him a P11D he may when HMRC assess the underpaid tax be able to push it back at the employer and say they never told him the correct amount of the benefit. This would be more likely if you had been taxed on some of the benefit ie the amount was wrong. If you were not taxed at all then HMRC will say surely you were aware you had a company car and that it gives rise to a taxable benefit and should have told them.
If the underpayment is less than £2000 it can be coded in. Otherwise you pay anything owed in one lump.
I think if I were you I would contact HMRC and tell them about it. They may take it all up with the company and get them to pay the underpaid tax. This can happen when a PAYE check on a company shows that benefits have not been declared by the company.