Tax refund at end of JSA claim?

poorlittlefish

I was in a well-paid job until last October, have been claiming JSA but am starting a new job shortly. I believe I may be eligible for an amount of tax refund? I had read that the Job Centre sorts this out when they end your claim and generate your P45, but when I asked in there yesterday I was told you have to write to HMRC and do it all yourself. Has anyone had any experience in getting a tax refund in a situation like this? How did you go about it?

poorlittlefish

Yes, October 2013. I think my income from last April to now must be over the income tax personal allowance amount. I read somewhere that, when tax is deducted from your salary, it's calculated on the presumption you will be earning that amount throughout the year (ie your annual salary), hence by having had a massive drop to JSA only for half the year, I may have overpaid somewhat.

pennyago

When you give your P45 from the Job Centre to your new employer they will pay you any tax refund to you with your wages.
I take it your new job will start before the start on the new tax year in April?

McKneff

I agree with Pennyago, any refund will come through the payroll


HMRC cannot give you a refund before this because they wont know how much you will earn up to the end of the tax year.


Stands up to reason really

chrisbur

From http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/stop-work-refund.htm#2

"If you're getting Jobseeker's Allowance, the Benefit Office will normally pay any refund you're entitled to after the end of the tax year. If you stop claiming Jobseeker's Allowance before the end of the tax year, the Benefit Office will pay any refund you're entitled to after you've stopped claiming."

Sometimes the Jobcentre do not have all the information that they need to make the payment; if this is the case then they will issue a P45 with the emergency tax code and any refund would then not be made until the new employer received the details from HMRC. If this is the case it would be best to chase HMRC or it proberbly will not be sorted by tax year end. In that case you would be best to claim for it from HMRC.
Did you receive any payments from your old employer that were not included on the P45 these details may not be known to the Jobcentre?

poorlittlefish

blondebubbles wrote: »

There's a lot of information here - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/refund-reclaim.htm

Thanks, I knew I'd read it online somewhere and while it wasn't there, it does at least say the same thing that I remembered.

No, I've not received any other payments from my job. I submitted mileage claims, which were shown on my payslips, so I assume that if they were a factor the amounts shown on the P45 included them.

pennyago

chrisbur wrote: »

From http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/stop-work-refund.htm#2

"If you're getting Jobseeker's Allowance, the Benefit Office will normally pay any refund you're entitled to after the end of the tax year. If you stop claiming Jobseeker's Allowance before the end of the tax year, the Benefit Office will pay any refund you're entitled to after you've stopped claiming."

Sometimes the Jobcentre do not have all the information that they need to make the payment; if this is the case then they will issue a P45 with the emergency tax code and any refund would then not be made until the new employer received the details from HMRC. If this is the case it would be best to chase HMRC or it proberbly will not be sorted by tax year end. In that case you would be best to claim for it from HMRC.
Did you receive any payments from your old employer that were not included on the P45 these details may not be known to the Jobcentre?

When you first claim job seekers allowance you give them your P45.
When you sign off they issue another p45 which you give to your new employer. OP says they will be starting a new job. The new employer will operate the tax code through payroll as McKneff confirms.

poorlittlefish

Thanks all. The Job Centre never asked for my P45 so I didn't know they should have had it, but I handed it to them yesterday.

chrisbur

poorlittlefish wrote: »

Thanks all. The Job Centre never asked for my P45 so I didn't know they should have had it, but I handed it to them yesterday.

The instructions are on the P45
"Claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Take this form to your Jobcentre Plus office. They will pay you
any tax refund you may be entitled to when your claim ends,
or at 5 April if this is earlier"

Having only just handed it in it is quite possible that the P45 you get from them may not include the full details so they will issue a P45 with emergency tax on it. If that is the case advice as above in my last post.

pennyago

chrisbur wrote: »

The instructions are on the P45
"Claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Take this form to your Jobcentre Plus office. They will pay you
any tax refund you may be entitled to when your claim ends,
or at 5 April if this is earlier"

Having only just handed it in it is quite possible that the P45 you get from them may not include the full details so they will issue a P45 with emergency tax on it. If that is the case advice as above in my last post.

OP is starting a new job so will hand the job centre p45 to his new employer. They will not pay a tax refund before the end of the tax year for the very reason OP will be earning in the new job.

chrisbur

pennyago wrote: »

OP is starting a new job so will hand the job centre p45 to his new employer. They will not pay a tax refund before the end of the tax year for the very reason OP will be earning in the new job.

Earning in the new job has nothing to do with whether a tax rebate is due or not. What will decide if a tax rebate is due at the end of the payment of jobseekers allowance is the following calculation. The total taxable earnings to date will be taken, that is earnings from employment before the period of unemployment plus the unemployment benefit, from this is deducted the tax allowance due to date to give a taxable income to date. The tax due is calculated from this taxable income and this is compared to the tax paid so far this year. If the tax due is less than the tax paid then the difference is given as a tax refund. What you may or may not earn in the new job does not enter into the calculation.

The problem for the OP is that to do the above calculation the Jobcentre needs the P45 figures and as the P45 was only recently handed in they may not have them. If this is the case then the OP will be best advised to contact HMRC to try and get them to send the figures to the new employer so any rebate that may be due can be done by them.