How to get P45 with wrong leaving date corrected

Savvy_Sue

I can't give too many details, but what I can say is that the employer has sent a P45 with the date of leaving as 21st August.

What had been agreed was that the employee could work fewer hours in August and be paid pro rata, by mutual agreement, and the date on which employment was to end would be 30th September, although the employee was not expected to do any work in September, and did not expect to be paid for anything.

The employee attended a meeting to discuss his hours in August, but had NOT agreed to reduce, as most of the month was being taken as paid leave. As the payslip for August hasn't been sent and payment won't be made until the end of the month, it's unclear whether the employer has arbitrarily reduced the salary pro rata, but we'll obviously check this.

The advantage of not being paid for the final month was two-fold: a shorter gap in employment history as the employee is unlikely to find another job immediately, AND a tax refund.

So, that's the background. How can we get this corrected? I suspect we will have to explain to the employer in words of one syllable what they need to do, although they do use a payroll service so it's possibly as simple as "you made a mistake, ask payroll to sort it."

Savvy_Sue

OK, scrub that.

The date of leaving is given as 31st August, and the salary covers the whole month.

So, is it worth asking for it to be corrected for the tax rebate and / or the employment history? I know you chaps specialise in the tax rebate side of things rather than the employment history, but opinions still welcome ... FWIW the employee doesn't think it's worth the hassle.

agrinnall

I can't really see much (or any) benefit to trying to get it changed now. A one month gap in employment history is unlikely to cause any significant problem.

Savvy_Sue

agrinnall wrote: »

I can't really see much (or any) benefit to trying to get it changed now. A one month gap in employment history is unlikely to cause any significant problem.

You and the employee are probably a whole lot more forgiving and tolerant that me: I'd want it changed on principle ...

But I'm sure you're right about the gap in employment history, just that the tax rebate would have been nice!

Onward and upwards ...

getmore4less

Was it made clear that Sept would be unpaid garden leave and not a mutually agreed early termination.

IMO it is less potential hasstle for the employer to terminate the contract as the law can require full payment during notice.

getmore4less

They can probably JSA early which will start the tax rebate process.

Also realised that if they remained employed the employer might have to do a pay run and refund some tax.

Savvy_Sue

getmore4less wrote: »

Was it made clear that Sept would be unpaid garden leave and not a mutually agreed early termination.

It was very clear that the termination date would be 30th September, but September would be unpaid, and no work would be expected from the employee.

To be fair, I don't know why that agreement was made, rather than termination at the end of August, but that's what was agreed, in writing.

getmore4less wrote: »

IMO it is less potential hasstle for the employer to terminate the contract as the law can require full payment during notice.

I don't think the employee could have enforced that and certainly there was no intention to do so.

getmore4less wrote: »

They can probably JSA early which will start the tax rebate process.

It's unlikely that the employee will claim JSA any time soon, and I don't know enough about the mechanics of that, but I didn't think a tax rebate would arrive while on JSA - would it?

getmore4less wrote: »

Also realised that if they remained employed the employer might have to do a pay run and refund some tax.

That's exactly what I thought should happen: in the September pay run, with a nil salary, a tax refund would be due.

sheramber

If he is not claiming JSA he can claim a reoayment from the tax office after 4 weeks unemployment.

He needs to complete a form P50 and sendit tis tax office with parts 2 and 3 of the P45

Savvy_Sue

sheramber wrote: »

If he is not claiming JSA he can claim a reoayment from the tax office after 4 weeks unemployment.

He needs to complete a form P50 and sendit tis tax office with parts 2 and 3 of the P45

Thanks. But I thought the P50 was only if you didn't expect to work again this tax year?

chrisbur

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Thanks. But I thought the P50 was only if you didn't expect to work again this tax year?

Can be used for either, you tick which option using it for.

Savvy_Sue

chrisbur wrote: »

Can be used for either, you tick which option using it for.

That's great thanks. The employee already has an unrelated tax matter to sort out with them, so hopefully everything can be dealt with at once. And I'm learning more about tax every day ...