Underpayment Letter

Issuma

Evening All

Just after a little advice, back in August 2011 my OH received an Underpayment of Tax letter for £566.60 for tax year 2009-2010.

The reason given was that my husband had 2 employers at the same time who had both allowed him his personal allowance.

We rang them straight away to explain
1. My husband has never had 2 employers at the same time and was with the same employer throughout the tax year in question.

2. During the tax year in question my husband suffered attack and didn't work - and was only in receipt of SSP from December 2009 to May 2010.

The guy that we spoke to said it was because my husband had an income from his pension - which he doesn't.

We we're then told the underpayment would be collected by changing my OH tax code for 2012 increasing his tax by £47 per month.

After the phone call we put all this in writing asking for this to be investigated, we received a reply at the end of September apologising for the delay but to assure us it was being looked into.............we still haven't heard anything, we've rang again only to be told it's still under investigation !!

If this is not a mistake and my OH genuinely does owe this money then fair enough, my question is how long do we leave it as my OH would prefer it if they didn't them mess around with his tax code he would rather just pay the money which I assume would have to be before April...........however we may not be able to raise the whole amount in full would we be able to say pay £300 in a lump sum then let them amend his tax code to collect the remaining £266.60.

Thanks in advance

Mikeyorks

Issuma wrote: »

2. During the tax year in question my husband suffered attack and didn't work - and was only in receipt of SSP from December 2009 to May 2010.

If you post the details from his P60 for that year (pay / tax / Code) and the detail from the P800 - someone will look at it? I'm rubbish on SSP - but assume the employer made that via payroll and therefore it's in the P60?

he would rather just pay the money which I assume would have to be before April...........however we may not be able to raise the whole amount in full would we be able to say pay £300 in a lump sum then let them amend his tax code to collect the remaining £266.60.

Shouldn't be a problem. But do make sure you get a payslip (P254) from them before you make a Voluntary payment. Personally - if it goes that far - I think you'd be better letting them code the lot out and keeping the £300 to top up each month? I don't like Voluntary payments to HMRC - it's a dog's breakfast of a system.

Issuma

Mikeyorks, thanks for the reply.
P60 to tax year to 5th April 2010:

Pay 21621.07
Tax 3016.20
Tax Code 653L

P800 - I assume this is the yellow from that we received with the letter.

PAYE Income 24449, tax paid 3016.20
Flat Rate Job Expenses 60 deducted giving total of 24389

Personal allowance 6475
Income tax is chargeable on 17914
Basic rate at 20% on £17914 = 3582.80

Therefore deducting 3016.20 from 3582.80 gives the £566.60 shortfall.

We did mention to them that the income on the P60 shows at £21621.07 but on the P800 income shows as £24389.00 but that got brushed over ???

If these figures are correct and the money is owed then fair enough, I would have thought that the figures on the P60 and P800 should match........but what would I know !!!

Thanks again

Mikeyorks

Issuma wrote: »

........but what would I know !!!

Thanks again

Enough that the figures on the P60 and the P800 should match - if only the one employment etc!

The P60 figures compute correctly. The tax is spot on for the pay / Code. But HMRC appear to suggest an extra £2828 in taxable pay - is the issue. Would that be the SSP amount?

You can only contact HMRC again and get the anomaly resolved. Do you have payslips for those months that might shed some light?

Issuma

Yes we have all my OH payslips which show SSP of £79.15 per week with £15.80 PAYE deducted SSP was claimed for either 17 or 18 weeks which doesn't come anywhere near to £2828. On the P60 SSP doesn't show as a seperate figure at the bottom it says any SSP, SMP,SAP is included ??

Mikeyorks

I did say I'm an SSP dunce - but I assumed it would be included. I would try a call to HMRC with the figures - but write (send the original P60, but copy it first) otherwise. Address as on the P800.

Trust you get it sorted. But do post back - always interested to know how it goes and learn a bit more.

System

Just a thought - did your husbands employer get taken over in that tax year? Sometimes the old owner forgets to pass on the previous pay and tax details to the new one which could cause the problem.

Another possibility is someone elses P60 being credited to your husbands record because their employer/pension provider made an error with their National Insurance number.


Ask HMRC to confirm the names and pay and tax details on all employments/pensions they hold for your husband for that year. Then at least you know if the record is correct.

Issuma

Thank you both for your replies.
My OH company wasn't taken over however he was TUPE'd over to another company but that was on the previous tax year, we did raise this with them as that was the first thing that sprang to mind, they said it definately wasn't anything to do with that, this was when they then siad it was because my OH was claiming an income from a pension which he isn't !!!!!

I'm going to write to them again today, enclosing copies of all correspondence - is it normal for everything to take this long I find it incredible that we wrote to them in August 2011 asking them to investigate this for us and here we are 5 months later and still nothing !!!!!!

chrisbur

Issuma wrote: »

Yes we have all my OH payslips which show SSP of £79.15 per week with £15.80 PAYE deducted SSP was claimed for either 17 or 18 weeks which doesn't come anywhere near to £2828. On the P60 SSP doesn't show as a seperate figure at the bottom it says any SSP, SMP,SAP is included ??

A tax figure of £15.80 being taken from SSP of £79.15 suggests that a tax code of BR is being used proberbly on a week1 basis. Yet the P60 has 653L and the tax is correct for that code and gross on the P60, so it looks like it was altered from BR before the year end. Can you check the payslips to see what tax codes were used and if they changed what week numbers this happened on?

System

Why don't you make an appointment with your local enquiry centre and ask them to show you what is on the system for your husband. That would be quicker than writing in.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/enq/main.htm

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/enq/nireland.htm

dori2o

Ask HMRC to send you a letter detailing the income that has been used in the calculation.

This letter will tell you which company the income was from, the value of the income received and tax paid, and which tax code was in operation.

Did your husband apply for ESA at any point during the tax year in question.

The only reason I ask is that no matter if your claim is accepted or declined, the DWP notify HMRC that a claim has been made. This could have led HMRC to believe that your husband received ESA and have included the estimated amount of the benefit in the calculation. This is something else to check with HMRC as it may have been shown incorrectly as a State pension/benefit on the system.