PAYE coding notice

bp1234

Hello all - this is my first post so i am hoping it works and i dont appear too much of a simpleton!

for background my gross salary is £34k, i receive an annual bonus of £6.5k at year end, my benefits include health cover at £1743 and until November 2010 a company car at £3688 - i then took a cash allowance instead of car at £4750.

I have never really paid much attention to my tax code as being PAYE i always thought it was automatically sorted out between my employer & HMRC. However this year i received a PAYE coding notice that said my tax code for the year 6 April 2011 to 5 April 2012 was 210L, so HMRC had not adjusted my code following the switch from car to car allowance in Nov.

I called to update their records thinking i may get a few pounds back but then got a second notice saying i had underpaid tax for the year 2010 - 2011 by £770, now being repaid monthly.

It transpires that my code for 2010 to 2011 was wrong and had not accounted for my company car although i have been employed with this company since April 2009. Like i said i stupidly have never really paid attention to tax code and thought it was automatically sorted through PAYE.

I also do not remember receiving a coding notice before.

In short this feels a bit unjust as i was not aware i had to update HMRC on benefit changes. Is this really my fault or is there anything i can do?

Sorry bit of a rambling first post - i will cut down next time!!

Thanks in advance for you help.

p00hsticks

Has your employer given you P11D forms at the end of this year ?
These should have details of your Benefits In Kind (BIK) and both you and HMRC should be given copies by your employer, enabling HMRC to adjust your tax code accordingly.

In my experience, because P11Ds aren't produced until after the end of the tax year, it often takes a while to filter through - so if you started work in April 2009, your first P11D for tax year 2009-2010 will have been produced in May-June 2010, and so your tax code may only just have been adjusted to cater for it.

bp1234

Thank you, it was shown in my P11D's, I'm guessing I'll just have to swallow the bitter pill for this. Thanks for coming back to me.