Car benefit placement confusion!

MoonChild74

On 3rd October 2016, I had a letter from HMRC stating that I had paid TOO MUCH tax for the tax year 15-16 and was due a refund of £647.80, which I immediately claimed back.

On 10th November 2016, I had another letter from HMRC stating that I had paid £639.20 TOO LITTLE tax for the tax year 15-16 and needed to pay it back.

On both letters the explanation contains the same figures, except the figure for my 'Car Benefit' is in a different place. (I will never again have a company car - it was a nightmare!)

In the first letter the Car benefit is listed in the Explanation section as 'Car Benefit you paid tax on'.
In the second letter the same figure is listed as Car benefit in the Income section.
Both income figures are the same.

As you can imagine, I am really confused!
I cannot tell which is right and do not trust HMRC to be honest about which letter contains the error. (Perhaps I'm being unfair here, but I've been duped by 'officials' in the past and don't want it to happen again!)

I was made redundant on 9th November 2016 and am currently out of work due to illness, so am in no position to pay the refund back in full.
I am fuming I am even having to use energy I don't have to deal with someone else's incompetence.

Can anyone offer any advice as to how to check which one is right please?

sheramber

From what you say it looks like the first calculation did not include the car benefit. although it was shown in the explanation box.

The second one has rectified that and included it . As a result the refund was not due and is now payable.

Can you post the figures for the two calculations?

dori2o

You should have a P60 and P11D from the employer you worked for in 2015/2016. Simply check the figures used for income, car benefit and tax paid on the tax calculation match those figures on the P60 and P11D.

Have you asked HMRC why the original calculation didnt include the car benefit figure?

The note on the first calculation suggests that HMRC received information via a P11D that the benefit in kind for your company car was less than what had been included in your tax code in the 2015/2016 tax year, therefore you had overpaid tax.

The 2nd calculation suggests HMRC has received further information regarding the car benefit, possibly an amended P11D, and issued an adjusted tax calculation.

Nobody on this forum can tell you which calc is corect. Despite the fact you have already made the assumption that HMRC are to blame that may not be the case.

You need to contact HMRC to understand why this has happened. You also need to check the calculations against the information given to you by your employer.

Unfortunately too many people fail to check calculations before cashing repayments and in the majority of PAYE repayment cases the reason for most calculations being incorrect is down to HMRC receiving incorrect/incomplete information.

MoonChild74

Thank you for your responses.

I did check the figures prior to requesting the refund. I made the (perhaps unwise) assumption that as the figure married up to what my P11D said the calculation was in fact correct. I am not a tax expert and therefore didn't know precisely where the figure should be placed in the calculation.

The P11D figure was the same on both letters I received from HMRC - only it was in different places. From my conversation with an HMRC representative, they had received the information from my employer in good time and were only alerted to the error by the fact that I was made redundant and therefore another set of information was sent.

Have you asked HMRC why the original calculation didnt include the car benefit figure?

Yes, apparently it is 'COMPUTER ERROR'. I argued that computers don't make errors; humans inputting data do, but the HMRC representative insisted it was all down to the computer! (Bizarre!)

There was no apology. In fact he was downright rude.
I will be complaining - although I don't see it having any value!