employer error = £6k underpaid tax! help

densol_2

OP - what a nightmare

To all the judgemental know it alls - Im presuming this was NOT just a question of " here is a company car for free " it sounds like the OP had to pay a monthly sum for said car to the lease scheme ? If so they say they were led to believe it included the tax benefit ? All the know it alls on here would have seen the immediate error and never ever would have been caught out - but average joe bloggs maybe didnt! Hence a hefty tax bill !

OP - I'd be looking into the original paperwork and what info was given at the time ?

hcb42

The tax code reduces for a company vehicle (or indeed any taxable benefit) - so the OPs OH should have seen that.

It can take a while for the tax to catch up with the benefit. I have had a company car since Jun 2013 and only yesterday received my new tax code from HMRC. I knew it was coming however so no shock

Being able to pay it over three years is a bonus though. Taxman is not always so kind

Cardinal-Red

I do love the tone of some responses here.

OP - I can see your point, although as many others have pointed out it's probably more appropriately aimed at the employer than HMRC. As a taxpayer myself, I would hope that HMRC would insist on payment of this tax.

While slightly different scenario, in a previous place of my employment, an employee share scheme was implemented incorrectly by the HR department and income tax was not recognised on the value of discount offered to employees. Following an employer compliance visit, HMRC noticed this and sought to assess the tax.

Through group efforts (not-unionised but this may have helped too) it was shown that the HR department had fundamentally failed to provide the information required to to make an informed decision on whether or not to join the scheme. The company therefore agreed to pay the tax on behalf of the employees. (Co-incidentally this led to further problems for the company because their HR team did not understand UK tax but that's for another day.)

So in summary, it may be worth gathering all the lease drivers together and putting in a letter to the company. What do you have to lose?