Is it normal to get a Tax Refund every year?

xylophone

with no explanation for the annual refunds.

There will be an explanation.

The school holidays will soon be here so he won't be rushing off to hard labour at the chalkface - he might try calling HMRC at or shortly after 7.45 am?

It would be as well to have his latest Notice of Coding/salary advice to hand.

patanne

Was your post #13 correct that his employers have his tax code as 601L? If that is correct then it his employers who are getting it wrong as it should be at least 1060L (extra for part of union fees). Get him to check what his pay slip says.

anniecave

Possibly it was 601L at the end of the tax year (due to a previous coding error), which generated the refund, but HMRC have since corrected the coding to the correct one?

patanne

When I did wages the new tax year info from HMRC was along the lines of - for all tax codes with the suffix L add 68 (or whatever). If they still do it like that then the employer has got it wrong at the beginning and is repeating the problem each year - as this is not the first time this has happened.

somethingcorporate

Wizzbang wrote: »

The student loan is fully paid off, it is no longer. It was paid off in full and confirmed by SLC. There are no annual statements because it is paid off, in full. It's paid off in full, oh I think I said that already.

We have checked his tax code, found the documents etc and it is exactly as it should be- 1060L. I got him to phone HMRC anyway- they kept him on the line for 30 minutes and then cut him off because apparently they all went home at 8pm. Lucky them. I am certain when he does finally get to speak to them, they are going to say that everything is exactly as it should be with no explanation for the annual refunds. It will be a while before he has another 30 minutes plus to waste, probably for nothing.

I'm glad your teacher friends get so much time off- I find that very hard to believe if they really are deputy heads or heads. They, in particular, live and breathe their jobs and never get any time off. The only other explanation is that they are in failing schools or simply, not doing what they are supposed to do. There isn't an NQT in this country who isn't up their ears in paperwork and lesson planning. This is the reason why such a high percentage leave the profession within a few years- they simply can't hack it. Good luck to them if they 'think' they have all this time off, it will surely come back to haunt them, that is for certain! Of course, you don't actually live with them- so you don't really know how much work they're doing. I'd encourage you to read some of The Guardian articles, if you want to know what the job is really like.

At least we're getting a refund every year, it looks like it's going to stay that way, unless someone at HMRC miraculously answers the phone which doesn't look likely from a quick internet search.

I paid my student loan off years ago but I still know I paid interest from the second it was given to me. I know this because it was a major impact to myself so I understood how it works and I read and understood my annual statements - you seem to be showing a trend here that you regularly do neither for quite important financial impacts in your life.

In terms of not knowing teachers - one of my oldest best mates is head of history at a decent senior school in a city in the north east and his partner is an NQ at a primary, my neighbours (who I also run with the husband) are both head and year 6 teacher at a local primary school. Also my ex who we are still friends with is a deputy at a primary in a school over in the north west and a girl I was in form with at 6th form is now a head at a primary in London. I talk to them/see them all on a regular basis. All work hard in term time and get the holidays off. So saying they work all hours every hour all year long is just not my experience across quite a broad (and evidently successful given they are all sub 35) cross section and geographical spread.

Sorry, your reasoning just does not wash. Something as important as this you would make time for it, it's that simple. The time and effort you have put into into this thread you could have got this sorted. Read my signiture, you can be righteously indignant about the whole situation but it's not going to fix it for you. It does give you a great excuse to moan though!

Pennywise

somethingcorporate wrote: »

You say I'm deluded but I am surrounded by my peers that are teachers/deputy heads and heads (next door neighbour is a head and her husband is a teacher) and they all seem to get the school holidays off. My other teacher friends brag about it on FB, some of them are NQs too. Are you saying your husband doesn't get this?

Honestly, if he cannot make time to make a 30 minute phonecall in a few years to sort out your tax situation then you need to have a look at your life and see what you do with your time.

One of my clients is the Geography head of department at our local comp and he manages to run a business alongside his teaching. It's not a pathetic little part time hobby business either - it's a proper business that needs daily attention and involves several foreign business trips each year. He tells me he wouldn't be able to do it if he had another job and wasn't a teacher as he relies on finishing early each day and the holidays! Given the OPs comments, it does seem that there's a lot of variation in the hours worked!

somethingcorporate

Pennywise wrote: »

One of my clients is the Geography head of department at our local comp and he manages to run a business alongside his teaching. It's not a pathetic little part time hobby business either - it's a proper business that needs daily attention and involves several foreign business trips each year. He tells me he wouldn't be able to do it if he had another job and wasn't a teacher as he relies on finishing early each day and the holidays! Given the OPs comments, it does seem that there's a lot of variation in the hours worked!

Or a lot of exaggeration/excuse making to avoid doing those non-urgent but important things!!

jem16

Wizzbang wrote: »

We have checked his tax code, found the documents etc and it is exactly as it should be- 1060L.

Yet in a previous post you stated that it was 601L so which is it?

If it's 601L and not 1060L then that is a difference of £4590 of allowances which at 20% tax would be £918 extra tax being paid. This may well account for most of the overpayment.

I got him to phone HMRC anyway- they kept him on the line for 30 minutes and then cut him off because apparently they all went home at 8pm.

Phoning at 7:30pm is always going to be a bad time as that's the busiest period. Phone at 7:45 to 8 am and he will get through fairly quickly.

Lucky them. I am certain when he does finally get to speak to them, they are going to say that everything is exactly as it should be with no explanation for the annual refunds. It will be a while before he has another 30 minutes plus to waste, probably for nothing.

People on proper tax codes don't get annual refund so of course they are not going to say everything is fine.

If the tax code is actually 601L, this may go back to the time before he started full time teaching and perhaps had more than one job. HMRC may well have given him a split tax code and the other part is unused somewhere as HMRC hasn't been updated as to his current status.

What did he do before this full time teaching job?

There isn't an NQT in this country who isn't up their ears in paperwork and lesson planning.

Your husband isn't an NQT is he has been teaching this last 3/4 years. A teacher is only an NQT for the first year. Granted there is a lot involved outside normal teaching hours but as the years pass it does get easier as you can reuse previous planning etc.

However regardless of this, he needs to take a little time early in the morning to get this sorted.