BR Tax for 5 years - how to get 2010-2011 back?

Savvy_Sue

chrisbur wrote: »

BR would also be the code used if you had no P45 and did not fill in a P46. If you did fill in a P46 what declaration A B or C did you make.

I'm guessing that the chances of the OP remembering what paperwork he gave in are remote, and as for what declaration he made ...

However, IF noidea still has just part 1 of the P45 from when he started this job, he'll have a clue whether or not he handed Parts 2 and 3 in to the new employer, and he'll know what tax code was handed on from one employer to the next.

If he still has all three parts of his P45 from way back then, it's a clue that he didn't give it in at all, and that he SHOULD have been given a P46.

If one of my colleagues asked to see what paperwork they'd given in when they started, I'd be able to show them. It might take a while, and a fair bit of muttering under my breath, or possibly an email to our payroll company (although as we've just changed it's less likely I'd want to ask ...)

Worth a shot? Because IF you can show that the right information was submitted and HMRC / your employer failed to act on it, then a reclaim MAY be possible under the provisions xylophone has shared. But I wouldn't hold your breath.

noideapleasehelp

Thank you all for replying and helping me puzzle this out.

I started working for current employer whilst on annual leave with previous one. Could this by why HMRC gave them BR as a tax code?

I received my P45 - and have all parts - 3 monthly payslips into my new employment. I have a dated letter with the P45.

I did not receive a P46 to complete.

It sounds naiive but until last weekend I didn't know about checking tax codes or that one had to do this, sadly I thought this was between Employer and HMRC.

I wrote a letter yesterday and thanks xlophone for the wording.

If any one can shed any light on why HMRC picked up on this and refunded my overpaid tax during 2014-15 in my last pay packet, that would help. Had it been last months pay - I would have picked this up sooner, or even last year.

I've not received any previous refunds for overpayment in my pay for previous years and if I had, this would have come to light sooner.

Not sure where this leaves me now. Thank you to you all and if you have any further information, I would be very grateful.

Yes, I have learnt a hard and financially expensive lesson that you need to understand tax codes and check them each year at least and particularly when changing jobs. I maybe naiive or stupid but I had really thought until now this was between Employer and HMRC.

Thanks again.

CLAPTON

noideapleasehelp wrote: »

Thank you all for replying and helping me puzzle this out.

I started working for current employer whilst on annual leave with previous one. Could this by why HMRC gave them BR as a tax code?

I received my P45 - and have all parts - 3 monthly payslips into my new employment. I have a dated letter with the P45.

I did not receive a P46 to complete.

It sounds naiive but until last weekend I didn't know about checking tax codes or that one had to do this, sadly I thought this was between Employer and HMRC.

I wrote a letter yesterday and thanks xlophone for the wording.

If any one can shed any light on why HMRC picked up on this and refunded my overpaid tax during 2014-15 in my last pay packet, that would help. Had it been last months pay - I would have picked this up sooner, or even last year.

I've not received any previous refunds for overpayment in my pay for previous years and if I had, this would have come to light sooner.

Not sure where this leaves me now. Thank you to you all and if you have any further information, I would be very grateful.

Yes, I have learnt a hard and financially expensive lesson that you need to understand tax codes and check them each year at least and particularly when changing jobs. I maybe naiive or stupid but I had really thought until now this was between Employer and HMRC.

Thanks again.

last tax year HMRC introduced a new income data gathering system which gathers the employees income information in real time : so they know you had only one job

previously things weren't so good.

Savvy_Sue

noideapleasehelp wrote: »

I started working for current employer whilst on annual leave with previous one. Could this by why HMRC gave them BR as a tax code?

Yes. For a short while you had two jobs, so BR on one of them was almost certainly correct.

noideapleasehelp wrote: »

I received my P45 - and have all parts - 3 monthly payslips into my new employment. I have a dated letter with the P45.

This is where I feel you have to accept some responsibility. I don't recall the exact wording, but it's something like 'Keep Part 1 of this form and give Parts 2 and 3 to your new employer.' But you didn't do that.

A new employer can't possibly know when or whether you receive your P45 from your previous employer, so it has to be your responsibility to pass it on whenever it arrives.

(To be fair, you're not the only person who doesn't know what to do with their P45. I regularly have to ask new new staff to give me theirs when it arrives, and they regularly give me all three parts. But it says what you should do with it, and I don't understand why it's so hard to do it.)

noideapleasehelp wrote: »

I did not receive a P46 to complete.

May be worth pointing out that as far as I know the P46 wasn't ever a form where you'd normally be given a copy to keep, unless you took one yourself. And your new employer SHOULD have asked you to complete but actually, that probably wouldn't have made a difference. Because what the P46 used to do was establish whether or not you had another job, and at the time you started the new job, you were on annual leave from another job, so yes, you had another job.

Now, how was your new employer to know when your previous employer had stopped paying you, if you didn't give them the P45 which would have told them?

noideapleasehelp wrote: »

If any one can shed any light on why HMRC picked up on this and refunded my overpaid tax during 2014-15 in my last pay packet, that would help. Had it been last months pay - I would have picked this up sooner, or even last year.

It is possible that this is one of the intended consequences of RTI - Real Time Information. It is unfortunate that it wasn't flagged up last tax year.

getmore4less

Like it or not people are responsible for their own tax affairs paying the correct tax and being aware of how it is done.

PAYE is just part of the simplification process it does not remove the responsibility.

I woud write to HMRC put details for every year from the start of employment and let HMRC decide how to fix the problem and how many years they will back date.

I think the deadline is 5th April do you just missed a year.

stroptart

Have you checked whether any refunds have actually been sent but to the old address. If the year has been balanced and a refund issued, but you didn't receive it, then you would just ask for it to be reissued. It's unlikely that in 5 years no refunds were issued at all, unless your employer didn't send any P60 info to HMRC.

noideapleasehelp

Thanks to all who helped me on this thread and I'm updating you to share a happy ending.

HMRC sent me a cheque a number of weeks after I applied for an automatic refund via their website immediately I realised I was on BR code.

The paper work with the cheque was a bit complicated to understand and I couldn't match the figures up easily with what I had expected to receive.

Today I received confirmation of the breakdown of the figures and it includes a refund of the 2010/2011 tax I had over-paid - not as much as I thought but very close to the mark.

It seems that they are a bit back-logged with letters but the letter started with an apology which was nice.

So thank you all again and I hope others in my situation have a happy outcome too.

PlutoinCapricorn

This is good to hear, and I am sure will help others.

Spidernick

Did HMRC say why they refunded 10/11 to you? 5 April was a 'hard' deadline to reclaim that year and I've never known any give on that (other than for foreign tax credit claims where the related overseas tax was paid late). As such, I'd be very interested to hear further details around this, as I have clients who have lost out on significant refunds due to missing the deadline. Thanks.

dori2o

Spidernick wrote: »

Did HMRC say why they refunded 10/11 to you? 5 April was a 'hard' deadline to reclaim that year and I've never known any give on that (other than for foreign tax credit claims where the related overseas tax was paid late). As such, I'd be very interested to hear further details around this, as I have clients who have lost out on significant refunds due to missing the deadline. Thanks.

It‘s quite likely tha the main reason for this whole issue is down to HMRC not having been notified regarding a change of address.

When HMRC send out a letter and it is then returned by RM as undeliverable, or ‘returned to sender‘ by the occupiers of the old address then HMRC set a signal on the record to identify that there may be a problem with the address. This signal prevents any further correspondence being issued.

It‘s likely given that OP says this address is more than 6 years old that the signal was set on the record prior to 5 April 2011.

Whilst this signal is set it does not prevent HMRC from continuing normal maintenance of the tax record and therefore it‘s possible that the 10/11 tax year was reconciled and that the credit (overpayment) has been sat on the record ever since waiting to be issued.

Therefore it is payable even though the 4 years has passed as the calculation was done prior to the 4 year deadline.

Once OP completed the online repayment form and his address was subsequently updated it was then possible to issue a reayment for al years which were outstanding plus any credits that had not previously been able to have been issued.

It‘s actually not that uncommon, we see cases like this fairly regular.

It all boils down to the fact that people simply don‘t/forget to update their address when they move, or assume that their employer will update it for them.