Fake payslip : what the heck do I do now?

FireWyrm · 28 March 2012 at 9:28PM

Hi

I'm not sure this is the right forum, but if there are any tax experts out there, I would very much appreciate any help here.

I started working for a company on the 1st January. January's payslip showed I was on an emergency tax code OTM1. I was told this was down to my P45 not being registered on time for payroll. Fair enough.

February rolled around and yet again, it was the same tax code. I was fobbed off and finally lost patience with them around mid March. As I was on 'probation' I only had to give a weeks notice and so I did just that and resigned.

On Friday (which should have been payday) I rang to find out where my pay was and I was told that the BACs was in the system. I rang the external payroll company and have discovered that a payslip has been produced and the company confirm it is sitting in their office. On Monday, I enquirer again, only to be told exactly the same thing. I rang them again today and was told that the company had been in administration since last Friday and that I won't be paid at all.

Ok, so I rang the payroll company who claim that P60s for the year are in progress and it shows that I have been paid for March...but I have not and neither have HMRC as far as I can tell. HMRC are not aware of my involvement with this company and this strongly suggests that the company never paid the tax they stopped as well as not actually paying me for the month today. The MD claims the bank accounts are frozen and so will not pay me, but the payslip has been produced. He won't tell me the name of the administrator claiming that he is waiting for authorisation before releasing that information.

I'm at my wits end and I don't know what to do now. How on earth do I prove I havnt been paid? More to the point, what happens when HMRC catches up with this and works out the P60 is a complete work of fiction and they havnt actually had any money for me?

To be clear, the external payroll company handles the paperwork, but the employer is the one who actually sends the money. They are also prevaricating over a P45 and I don't hold out much hope of getting one. The MD essentially told me to foxtrot oscar this morning and is ignoring all attempts at contact.

Help?

Mikeyorks · 28 March 2012 at 10:19PM

The missing pay is something you need to take up with the Administrator. Also the P45.
There won't be a P60. You only get that if in employment with a company at the 5th April.
If your PAYE hasn't been paid over to HMRC then that's between them and the Company / Administrator. Not something you need to worry about as you will be credited for it once HMRC get the PAYE records for the year. But hold onto your payslips - they may be useful.

newbutold · 28 March 2012 at 11:08PM

I presume the company who does the payroll are a supplier of the company you worked for, if this is the case it may be worth asking them if they have details of who the administrators are.