P800 tax underpayment / JSA??

LAURALOO

alsoinhd wrote: »

This has been caused because when hmrc dont receive details from dwp about the amount of jsa received hmrc estimate the amounts. The dates are often incorrect resulting in hmrc estimating that jsa was earnt for longer thus you end up with the underpayment.

Hi,

If this is the case, I still don't understand how they have calculated that I've received nearly £5,000 in JSA. If I was to receive JSA for an entire year, it would be:

26 payments of £135 = £3510

So still a good grand and a half under what they claim I've received. Also, wouldn't it just be shown as one large amount of JSA? The fact there are three seperate amounts of JSA listed are what is puzzling me, as I claimed only for one continuous period of six weeks in my entire life.

System

LAURALOO wrote: »

Hi,
The fact there are three seperate amounts of JSA listed are what is puzzling me, as I claimed only for one continuous period of six weeks in my entire life.

But how would HMRC know that if they have received different claim start signals from DWP? Loads of people are unfortunate enough to not be able to get long term employment and so have to start and stop JSA claims. If HMRC get signals from DWP telling them a claim has started but no P45 comes in when it ends their current guidance is to estimate the cessation date as the day before the next employment starts. They use the time between the 2 dates to estimate how much JSA has been paid. It's easy to fix by supplying proof from DWP of the actual amount paid.

Horseunderwater there are no such things as tax districts for employers anymore and employers file P45's online now so P45 part 1 are sent on paper to tax offices. Parts 1A, 2 and 3 are issued on paper to the employee. If HMRC are asking for a P45 or P60 that's because it hasn't been sent in electronically to them.

misssmcc

Update - I received a letter from HMRC today confirming they had gotten the correct amounts from the job centre, and that my new underpayment is 80p

davefb

got the same.. p800 saying I had 2970 in JSA in 2011-2012..

in 2010-2011 , i was out of work and got about 340.. but I started work before april 2011, so received NO jsa in 2011-2012 tax year..

supposedly underpaid tax by 600 ...

I do recall it being a bit iffy, because my job start date was such that i managed to recieve a p60 from the new job with about a weeks earnings, but hadn't yet got the p45(?) from dwp...
gah, glad to see i'm not the only one though

JenniWR

OK, I've just had some fun with this one. :mad:

I rang the number on my P800. After first of all being 'told off' for ringing the overseas number (why should pay for a phone call?) I was told that I'd need to write to them at their PO Box 1970, Liverpool, L75 1WX address with a copy of my P45 from the job centre (my employer has this).

I was then informed that, were that the case, I ought to speak to my local job centre to get a letter confirming that I had received no JSA (repeat - I didn't receive a penny as I was not entitled! They've not simply extended my claim period by a few weeks accidentally). Surely one part of government has a responsibility to know what another part is doing? Apparently not.

So, today, I rang DWP. After eventually being put through to the right department (and given the number by a very helpful lady) I got through to someone with some !!!!-and-bull story about how he'd been unable to match me for security, but after taking my postcode, promised to have my local Jobcentre Plus send me a letter. As he hung up, it dawned on me that he did not know which tax year I was talking about, and since he was unable to pass me for security, surely had no idea who I was!

I spent another frustrating period waiting for another adviser, who again told me that he was unable to pass me for security. He also, counter to my first call, stated that DWP can only provide information of what benefits were received, and not that none were whatsoever. I was, however, promised a callback within three hours, and he dutifully took a phone number, my NI number, my date of birth and my name (in that order - is my name no longer important?) I asked why, now he had my details, he could not pass me for security and look into this, but he stated that as he was just in a call centre, his computer system did not hold any useful information (or something similarly stupid).

He then said I would be telephoned between 9am and 1pm on Monday. When I asked why he was, he informed me that the call centre was due to close in 30 minutes (he neglected to explain why a three-hour callback now became a four-hour time slot). I said I'd be working at this time, and why can I not speak to someone now, and I was told "if we try to call you at that time and you are unavailable, you'll just have to try your luck again". Try my luck! When I told him that this ws unacceptable, he stated "this is getting us nowhere, so I'm terminating the call now" and simply hung up.

So, there's my experiences. I am now going to write to HMRC informing them that their calculation is under dispute, and not to adjust my tax code, to DWP, submitting a DSAR (we'll see how much money and effort that costs them) and to DWP again complaining about the behaviour of the final agent (using this post as it's basis). Is there any thing else I can do? Has anyone else in this situation secured a success, and if so, how?

Dazed_and_confused

You may have saved yourself a lot of hassle if you had kept your copy of the P45 (part 1A) that the DWP gave you - this should not be given to your employer and would normally show the taxable benefit in the tax year you signed off, £0.00 in your case from your original post, along with the date your JSA claim stopped.

That and written confirmation that you didn't sign on again and receive any further benefit should be enough to get the HMRC calculation amended I would have thought.

JenniWR

With hindsight, yes, but I'm looking for what I can do now, not what I ought to have done eighteen months ago please, when a started working, coincidentally, for a government department.

The fact is that I was not entitled to any money, so had my claim continued up until this point, I'd still have never had any tax liabilities.

Does one branch of government (HMRC) not have a responsibility to ensure that the information received from another (DWP) is correct? I know these are both massive bureaucracies, but surely they can check themselves?