Student Loan Query

Carys

Hello & thank you for your time.


I have recently had to submit a Self Assessment Tax Return for a crazy small amount of £135. On doing so I was asked to pay back £355 in tax/student loan repayments.


Of this £290 was student loan repayments. I have worked full time for the last 9 years since leaving university and made repayments monthly since I was first employed.


I have written to the SLC querying this repayment but I was just wondering if any one had any similar experiences and what sort of response I should expect.


At the end of the day I have paid an additional £255 off my loan, but I feel that that isn't the point & I don't know where it has come from. Had I not registered for SA then I would never have known I apparently owed this amount?


I obviously didn't accrue this repayment from the minimal amount I made being self employed (this ran alongside my full time employment)


Any advice / experience appreciated.

glider3560

Repayments through a tax return are based on the year, i.e. 9% of everything above £17,495 (assuming you're on Repayment Plan 1).

Repayments through your employer are based on the payment period. E.g. if you are paid monthly, then it is 9% of everything above £1,457.

There can be discrepencies between the two methods of calculation, that result in extra being requested after submitting a tax return.

Also, double check you entered the correct figure for repayments collected by your employer on the tax return.

Ed-1

Carys wrote: »

At the end of the day I have paid an additional £255 off my loan, but I feel that that isn't the point & I don't know where it has come from. Had I not registered for SA then I would never have known I apparently owed this amount?

As glider3560 says, the repayment due for borrowers required to submit a tax return and borrowers who are just in PAYE with no tax return are potentially different.

If you had not been required to submit a tax return, the extra repayment would not have been due under the regulations. For people submitting a tax return, income is that for the whole year rather than pay period and includes, for example, unearned income above £2,000.