Employer making lots of mistakes! Help!

Parisian

In the first week of April 2011, I moved jobs (I rotate jobs every 6 months as part of a contract). I was paid in error for the whole of April 2011 by my old employer. I picked up on this, and they calculated the amount I need to pay back (I had worked a few days in April). In May I received a PAYE refund from them of around £125, and at the end of the month received a hand written P45 which I handed to my new employer.
In August I moved jobs again.

I have just received a letter from my employer who overpaid me in April 2011, stating that I need to pay them back the PAYE refund of £125. Upon questioning, they are really unable to explain this request. They said something along the lines - that I didn't have to pay tax on some of those first few days worked in April, and not only did I not pay tax but I also received this £125 refund.
I asked them that by paying this refund, would this affect my consequent tax payments at my new employer. They replied, rather quickly, "no".

I just think that so many errors have been made, and I'm not sure what to believe.
Is there something else I should be doing to verify all this?
If I've moved jobs, how can I be sure any of these errors/refunds haven't affected my consequent tax payments etc?

chrisbur

To try and make any sense of this you need to give full details of all payments and what you paid back and full details from the P45.

Dal_Whinnie

Did you finish your old job before or after 5th April? If it was before then you should have received a P45 for 2010/11 which would effectively have had a full years income and tax on it. If it was after then you should have received a P60 for 2010/11 and then a P45 to cover what you were paid for April.

Assuming it was after 5th April then does your P45 correctly reflect what you earned in April after taking account of what you refunded. What tax does it show? Does that include the £125 refund they paid you? If it does they should have taken it into account in PAYE payments made to HMRC? If that is the case I would suggest you don't repay them since it will be taken into account in your overall tax payments for 2011/12.

Parisian

Thank you both for your replies. Tax confuses me, so I'll just right all the info I have down below!

My last day with the employer was actually slap bang on the 5th of April 2011.

They accidentally paid me for the whole of April, which I highlighted to them. They wrote to me requesting a refund of the net overpayment, which I did.

I received a P60 stating my pay for the year, and tax paid for the year as £5396.

At the end of May 2011 I received a payslip from the old employer with only one entry on it - a PAYE refund of £124.60.

I received a hand written P45 (after requesting it) on the 31st of May 2011. It showed that I had received £582.10 total pay to date, and had paid £0 in tax.

Then in June 2011, I received another payslip. In the pay column I received a refund on some course fees for £284, arrears NP for £193.04, and arrears Pay for £416.11. In the deductions column there are two entries - Pension £27.15 and Recovery Advance NR £582.10.
I'm not sure what NP and NR mean in the entries above.

After this, I only received payslips from my new employer and a P45 when I left the new employer in August.

My next contact with the older employer was recently when they asked for the £124.60 PAYE refund back, stating on the telephone that not only had I not paid tax but had also received a refund.

This is all v. confusing to me - does it sound right?

chrisbur

What payments have you recieved into your bank account from your old employer after the April payment that you repaid to them?

Parisian

I've listed all the payslips from my old employer in the above post.

Parisian

Ahhh sorry, I see what you mean! I will post them when I have my payslip file to hand.
Thanks!

Parisian

Okayyyy got my file:

May 2011 - Net Pay £124.60

June 2011 - Net Pay £284 (taxable pay is stated as 582.10, non taxable pay as 284, total deductions as 609.15, and tax paid as -minus124.60. Previous tax paid is 0).

chrisbur

Parisian wrote: »

Okayyyy got my file:

May 2011 - Net Pay £124.60

June 2011 - Net Pay £284 (taxable pay is stated as 582.10, non taxable pay as 284, total deductions as 609.15, and tax paid as -minus124.60. Previous tax paid is 0).

Are you getting these figures from your bank statement or from payslips? What I am trying to find out is exactly what you have recieved into your bank.
Your previous posts suggests that a payment of £582.10 was made to you which was then deducted from a later payment, does this payment of £582.10 appear on your bank statements?

Parisian

They paid me in error for the whole of April - £2372.05. They wrote to me saying the gross overpayment was £3045.77 and the net overpayment £1789.95. I repaid them £17989.95. £2372.05 minus £582.10 = £1789.95. So £582.10 must have been my pay for the days in April that I worked.

The only other payment I received from them was the £124.60 at the end of May 2011.

chrisbur

Parisian wrote: »

They paid me in error for the whole of April - £2372.05. They wrote to me saying the gross overpayment was £3045.77 and the net overpayment £1789.95. I repaid them £17989.95. £2372.05 minus £582.10 = £1789.95. So £582.10 must have been my pay for the days in April that I worked.

The only other payment I received from them was the £124.60 at the end of May 2011.

Are you then saying that there was no payment into your bank for the June payslip you gave details for ?

"June 2011 - Net Pay £284 (taxable pay is stated as 582.10, non taxable pay as 284, total deductions as 609.15, and tax paid as -minus124.60. Previous tax paid is 0)."