Incorrect tax code

InhaleMood

Hi,
I wonder if anyone can help. I have been doing a check up on my finances and noticed I was down about £200/month to what I should be taking home. I checked my payslip and my tax code is 536L which doesn't seem to be right.
I called HMRC last night and they said it was because the system was showing that I was still working in a job that I left in 2008! He said I needed to show my P45 to prove that I left.
I don't have my P45 and I have contacted my previous employer and they don't appear to have a copy either.
Can anyone suggest what else I might do? I feel like it should be HMRC that sorts this out because the P45 had originally gone to them, as from 2009 to 2012 my tax code was correct.
Help!

xylophone

Ask your old employer for a letter confirming when you left their employment?

Presumably you do have your P60s for the tax years ending 08-12?

SparklableJewellery

I've had all sorts of problems with tax codes etc (I was paying emergency tax for 4 years and had a previous incident where they had me down as working two jobs with the second being a male 4 years older than I was in a totally different part of the country). If you can't get anywhere with your old employer (or your new one, they may have a record) then I would go to your MP...I did and miraculously after 6 months of butting my head against a wall it was sorted in less than 2 weeks

nomunnofun

tanyasharma wrote: »

Hi,
I wonder if anyone can help. I have been doing a check up on my finances and noticed I was down about £200/month to what I should be taking home. I checked my payslip and my tax code is 536L which doesn't seem to be right.
I called HMRC last night and they said it was because the system was showing that I was still working in a job that I left in 2008! He said I needed to show my P45 to prove that I left.
I don't have my P45 and I have contacted my previous employer and they don't appear to have a copy either.
Can anyone suggest what else I might do? I feel like it should be HMRC that sorts this out because the P45 had originally gone to them, as from 2009 to 2012 my tax code was correct.
Help!

Quite frankly this is just unbelievable! HMRC are saying that they have allocated part of your tax allowances against another job which you left five years ago. This is despite the fact that they have, presumably, received returns from this employer showing absolutely zero earnings for you - and they expect you to sort it out!

If it were me I would get back to them and INSIST that all of your personal allowances are allocated against your current job. If they wish to tax your non-existent earnings at 20%, 40% etc- let them. You can ask for your allowances to be allocated as you see fit and I would strongly suggest that you take this course of action.

They appear to have allocated 4040 of allowances against to your 'other job'. If you are a basic rate taxpayer, that is costing you £808 per year!

zygurat789

nomunnofun wrote: »

Quite frankly this is just unbelievable! HMRC are saying that they have allocated part of your tax allowances against another job which you left five years ago. This is despite the fact that they have, presumably, received returns from this employer showing absolutely zero earnings for you - and they expect you to sort it out!

If it were me I would get back to them and INSIST that all of your personal allowances are allocated against your current job. If they wish to tax your non-existent earnings at 20%, 40% etc- let them. You can ask for your allowances to be allocated as you see fit and I would strongly suggest that you take this course of action.

They appear to have allocated 4040 of allowances against to your 'other job'. If you are a basic rate taxpayer, that is costing you £808 per year!

I was told by an HMRC employee that they had no power over the allocation of allowances over different employments. All you have to do is to TELL them where to make the allocation.

KKmatters

I personally would write to them, if the phone call you made hasn't resolved the issue.

When your old employer issued a P45 you would have handed this into your new employer, therefore I would suggest that you contact the Payroll Dept and ask if you could have a photocopy of your P45 and also ask for copies of P60's and send all the information to the HMRC - alternatively if your current employers don't have the P45 on file ask your old employer to write you a statement of earnings that shows... Gross Pay, Taxable Pay, Tax Paid, Tax Code and date of leaving, this along with your P60's should be sufficient evidence for HMRC to investigate and issue a revised code.

TaxSaviour

tanyasharma wrote: »

Hi,
I wonder if anyone can help. I have been doing a check up on my finances and noticed I was down about £200/month to what I should be taking home. I checked my payslip and my tax code is 536L which doesn't seem to be right.
I called HMRC last night and they said it was because the system was showing that I was still working in a job that I left in 2008! He said I needed to show my P45 to prove that I left.
I don't have my P45 and I have contacted my previous employer and they don't appear to have a copy either.
Can anyone suggest what else I might do? I feel like it should be HMRC that sorts this out because the P45 had originally gone to them, as from 2009 to 2012 my tax code was correct.
Help!

I wouldn't wait to write, you should call them again and ask them to 'allocate all of your Personal Allowance to you current job today and send the electronic P6 to your current employer so they can use the correct code straight away'.

They can change this over the phone without you sending a P45, I know this because a) i am a tax advisor and b) they tried to do this to me in May but 'wrong girl HMRC' pfft.

If your old employer sent the right forms; HMRC have already been told at least 4 times that you have left that job. They would have had a copy of your P45 when you left, your leaving date would be on the P14 sent to HMRC at the end of the tax year PLUS UNDER RTI it will show every month in the FPS sent to HMRC that you are no longer working there!!!

I think this is another HMRC RTI mess up

Tell them to change it, if they don't kick up a fuss and ask to speak to someone else.

InhaleMood

TaxSaviour wrote: »

I wouldn't wait to write, you should call them again and ask them to 'allocate all of your Personal Allowance to you current job today and send the electronic P6 to your current employer so they can use the correct code straight away'.

They can change this over the phone without you sending a P45, I know this because a) i am a tax advisor and b) they tried to do this to me in May but 'wrong girl HMRC' pfft.

If your old employer sent the right forms; HMRC have already been told at least 4 times that you have left that job. They would have had a copy of your P45 when you left, your leaving date would be on the P14 sent to HMRC at the end of the tax year PLUS UNDER RTI it will show every month in the FPS sent to HMRC that you are no longer working there!!!

I think this is another HMRC RTI mess up

Tell them to change it, if they don't kick up a fuss and ask to speak to someone else.

Thanks taxsaviour! My previous employer is trying to dig out my p60 but I think I will give this a go first.
Will let you know how I get on!

nomunnofun

What about the other years? See my post 4.

InhaleMood

Hi,
So, while I was waiting for my previous employer to send through the statement of earnings, I received a couple of letters from HMRC.
The first ones appear to be a tax repayment due from years back to 2005/06.
Figures are:
05/06 = 1427
06/07 = 1764.51
08/09 = 1804.21
10/11 = 1643.96
Which seems like good news!
But, then I also get a letter saying I owe them money for year 2013/14.
They have worked out my tax code to be 329L:
Personal allowance = 9440
employer benefits = -32
medical insurance = -225
underpayment restriction = 5886
Which makes a tax free about to be £3297.

Very confused now. I wonder if I owe them money if I can just take it out of what they owe me? Would rather my monthly payments were higher.

Any thoughts?

nomunnofun

Well if you asked me to put money on it I would hazard a guess that HMRC reduced your code to take into account the 'other job' sometime in 2011/12 or 2012/13, giving rise to a potential underpayment yet to be calculated. Presumably the clowns have not removed this!

Bottom line - ring up and ask what the underpayment restriction relates to - it looks like a collection of an underpayment of £1177.