Overpaid tax refund

SteveMetal

I've received a letter from HM Revenue & Customs saying I am due a repayment of around £400 for the tax year 2006-2007. But I think they have got this wrong, as the letter states it was due to a period of unemployment, I was not unemployed at all in this tax year, but I did change jobs in December 2006.
I have compared the PAYE Income figure on the letter which I have received with my P60, and it matches the figure I earned from my first job, there is no mention of my earnings from the job which I started in December 2006, so I'm guessing they think I was unemployed from December 2006 to April 2007.
Now do I just cash the cheque when I receive it and hope they don't realise they've possibly made a mistake or is it best to contact them about it.
Am I right in assuming that once 6 years has passed (April 2013) they will not look into any overpaid or underpaid tax going back that far?

SpendlessKaren

I got a refund letter yesterday for the same period, and also a nice cheque for £494

xylophone

SteveMetal wrote: »

I've received a letter from HM Revenue & Customs saying I am due a repayment of around £400 for the tax year 2006-2007. But I think they have got this wrong, as the letter states it was due to a period of unemployment, I was not unemployed at all in this tax year, but I did change jobs in December 2006.
I have compared the PAYE Income figure on the letter which I have received with my P60, and it matches the figure I earned from my first job, there is no mention of my earnings from the job which I started in December 2006, so I'm guessing they think I was unemployed from December 2006 to April 2007.
Now do I just cash the cheque when I receive it and hope they don't realise they've possibly made a mistake or is it best to contact them about it.
Am I right in assuming that once 6 years has passed (April 2013) they will not look into any overpaid or underpaid tax going back that far?

Honesty is the best policy.

pauletruth

the wife has just been told that they owe her just over a grand. now if it comes before christmas it would be very good. shame it won't repeat for the other years.

MGCP

Just been told they owe me about £600 from overpayments over 4 years (based on a miscalculation of my health insurance as a taxable benefit).

Its not often HMRC give you a Christmas present and it was certainly a nice surprise after the trepidation with which I opened the envelope from them!

SteveMetal

Honesty probably is the best policy, but this is HMRC we are talking about, they wouldn't think twice about sending you letters demanding money from you which they think you owe.

It makes a nice change to get some money back from the government, my P60 clearly states what I earnt that year and it is their mess after all.

lxpeanut

its best to contact them about it. I got p800's for a number of years a few weeks ago and there is a problem with my car allowance it goes from £1400 one year to £350 the next (same car) no idea what the right figure was. I've written and pointed this out I'd prefer them to get the tax right and that be the end of it. Even if they take no action if you write to them (keep a copy of the letter) and they later decide you owe them money the fact you'd already pointed out their mistake and they didn't do anything about it can mean you don't have to pay.

How long has it been between getting the p800's and the check? I got a bunch of the forms at the end of November but not received any check but I've also got a check issued the same day for a year I didn't get a p800 for.

SteveMetal

I received the check yesterday, it took about 1 week for it to arrive after receiving the P800.