HMRC (PAYE) Tax Demand

lycrawearer

Hi All,

Any advice welcome on the following;

Very recently received a P800 letter from good old HMRC telling me that for years 2012 - 2013 and 2013 - 2014 I appear to have underpaid PAYE tax

Both years in questions I was employed by major organisations (with a brief spell of 8 weeks claiming contribution based JSA).

The amount in question is £620 odd.

I've already written them a strongly worded letter telling that that for the period in question I was not responsible for my tax affairs but my employers were, as I was PAYE. I also stated that to pay this back would cause extreme hardship !

Today, I received a routine letter from them, asking how I would like to pay ? Apparently they can't deduct the amount outstanding from my next years tax for some unknown reason !?!

Any idea's ? Obviously I'm awaiting a response to my complaint letter that I sent ... which may take weeks ..

Cheers

lycrawearer

jem16

lycrawearer wrote: »

Both years in questions I was employed by major organisations (with a brief spell of 8 weeks claiming contribution based JSA).

Did the JSA span both tax years? Did you hand your P45 to the Job Centre and then the P45 from the Job Centre to your new employer?

I've already written them a strongly worded letter telling that that for the period in question I was not responsible for my tax affairs but my employers were, as I was PAYE.

I'm afraid that's incorrect. You are responsible for your own tax affairs.

The only time the employer may be responsible is if they have made an error and that's not entirely clear from what you are saying.

Apparently they can't deduct the amount outstanding from my next years tax for some unknown reason !?!

Have you asked them what the reason is? Normally with an amount of £620 they would simply adjust next year's tax code to take it. Perhaps they thought that wasn't what you wanted?

lycrawearer

jem16 wrote: »

Did the JSA span both tax years? Did you hand your P45 to the Job Centre and then the P45 from the Job Centre to your new employer?

The JSA was for 2 months only, in the 2013 - 2014 Tax Year. And yes, the P45 was handed in on both occasions.

jem16 wrote: »

Have you asked them what the reason is? Normally with an amount of £620 they would simply adjust next year's tax code to take it. Perhaps they thought that wasn't what you wanted?

Haven't managed to get through to them yet ... 35 minute wait on the telephone helpline earlier. They have also stated in todays letter that they would normally adjust my tax code to recover the amount outstanding, but they are not able to do so for one of 3 reasons given ..

- There is no PAYE source to code the underpayment against
- Inclusion of the underpayment would more than double the amount of tax they would normally deduct, or
- Inclusion of the underpayment in the tax code would result in more than half of the salary being deducted as tax

The only possible reason would be the second option ...

Cheers

jem16

lycrawearer wrote: »

The JSA was for 2 months only, in the 2013 - 2014 Tax Year. And yes, the P45 was handed in on both occasions.

Ok. Without knowing tax codes and figures for the two tax years in question, we really can't help to see where the underpayment has come from.

Haven't managed to get through to them yet ... 35 minute wait on the telephone helpline earlier. They have also stated in todays letter that they would normally adjust my tax code to recover the amount outstanding, but they are not able to do so for one of 3 reasons given ..

- There is no PAYE source to code the underpayment against
- Inclusion of the underpayment would more than double the amount of tax they would normally deduct, or
- Inclusion of the underpayment in the tax code would result in more than half of the salary being deducted as tax

The only possible reason would be the second option ...

Cheers

So it's not an unknown reason as you said earlier as you seem to have a clue that reason 2 would fit.

What is your current tax code and how much do you earn?

lycrawearer

jem16 wrote: »

Ok. Without knowing tax codes and figures for the two tax years in question, we really can't help to see where the underpayment has come from.

So it's not an unknown reason as you said earlier as you seem to have a clue that reason 2 would fit.

What is your current tax code and how much do you earn?

I'm only saying reason 2, as I'm in employment still (so reason 1 is invalid), and paying back £50 odd per month for 12 months wouldn't result in half of my salary being deducted as tax either !

Current tax code is 1060L

Cheers

jem16

lycrawearer wrote: »

I'm only saying reason 2, as I'm in employment still (so reason 1 is invalid), and paying back £50 odd per month for 12 months wouldn't result in half of my salary being deducted as tax either !

So how much tax do you normally pay each month?

agrinnall

lycrawearer wrote: »

Haven't managed to get through to them yet ... 35 minute wait on the telephone helpline earlier.

You need to call at a different time of day, the earlier the better. I called about my P800 this week and was talking to someone in less than 3 minutes.

lycrawearer

jem16 wrote: »

So how much tax do you normally pay each month?

Around £60 per month

Cheers

jem16

lycrawearer wrote: »

Around £60 per month

Cheers

Sounds like reason 2 fits then.

So basically unless you want to give figures that would perhaps explain where things have gone wrong, I would suggest you phone HMRC around 7:45am and work out how best to pay this tax bill.

lycrawearer

You're welcome to figures, but have just off the phone to HMRC

First of all, they acknowledged the complaint letter that I sent them regarding this matter and apologised (??) and then stated they have reviewed the matter and I now have no underpayment to worry about, in fact they owe me approx £17 !!

Success - not sure why - apparently a letter will be in the post to me explaining in more detail ... but I'm happy.

An unexpected outcome, but a welcome one regardless

Cheers

WannaBLoaded

i hate hmrc, when i was employed they were always over taking and taking years to give it back. They held onto the money for as long as possible..

I have been self employed for the last 3 years, though, and done my very best to get my own back on them :rotfl: