Basic Allowance applied twice

relief

Hi,

My husband has had an underpaid tax bill from 2007 to date because his basic tax allowance has been applied to both his full time and part time job. Am I able to contest this at all as its their error not ours? They have had all the relevant info each year from both employers and have issued tax code notices. We just didnt know they were wrong. Should they not have figured this out a lot earlier than now? We also wrote to them in February this year asking them to look at the codes after he changed one of the jobs and they refunded us about £800. Should they not have picked it up then?
Also, if we do have to pay it (£1400) - they are asking for it all by January which we can't afford - does anyone know how long we can pay it off over? They aren't adjusting his tax code to get it back.

Karen

anniecave

Did your husband fill out the tax form at both jobs saying "this is my only or main job". That may have been the problem. If he did, even if he didn't realise, it was his error.

If HMRC issue coding notices, they issue them to both employer and employee. So the employee should then check it to make sure it is correct. They give an explanation of why they've issued the coding and on what calculations.

Were the coding notices wrong? or did the employers not apply them correctly?

You can ask them to adjust the tax code if you want them to do that. They may by default ask for an amount in one installment, but if you ask they can usually adjust the tax code over a period of time.