Tax code question

Brie

Can anyone tell me what my tax code should be?

Basic rate tax
plus married allowance transfer
plus WFH (as we can't go to the office when we have covid, which I have had)

Any idea why HMRC would say my tax code changed last year?  I've no idea when this supposedly happened but they are claiming I owe tax back and have reduced my code as a result.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

For 2022:23 it would be 
£12,570 + £1,260 + £312 = £14,142 tax code allowances = tax code 1414M.

This assumes you aren't Scottish resident for tax purposes and no other adjustments are needed.

Brie

After being on hold for about 89 hours I've had a nice chat with HMRC and they said it's a change for this tax year not last and due to having a pension kick into payment with an incorrect tax code being used while still being fully employed.  

Given my current employment situation (redundancy pending) I'm sure they'll be writing to me a few more times this year.

p00hsticks

Brie said:

After being on hold for about 89 hours I've had a nice chat with HMRC and they said it's a change for this tax year not last and due to having a pension kick into payment with an incorrect tax code being used while still being fully employed.  

Given my current employment situation (redundancy pending) I'm sure they'll be writing to me a few more times this year.

If you can satisfy the ID requirements to register for a Government Gateway login, I'd recommend doing so and then using it to access your personal tax account online. You're able to check what your tax code is and how it's made up there, and it'll save you a lot of hanging around on the telephone.

https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

As an aside, I dont think that HMRC will consider 'not being allowed to go into the office if we have Covid'  as a valid justification for claiming the WFH allowance this year - they relaxed the rules a bit during the pandemic but I think are applying them more strictly again this year.

Brie

@p00hsticks
The gateway site didn't include anything about a tax code change and the information on it is incomplete for previous years so not much help at all.  that was my first stop.

Our company website specifically states that anyone testing positive must not come into the office and should continue to WFH.  Furthermore they have decided that hybrid working is good for the business as they can get rid of a lot of office space and have only up to 40% of the staff in the office on any given day.  Except for those registered as having workplace adjustments there are no personal desks, no storage space for any personal belongings so everyone must travel to and from work with laptops, headphones etc.  So even though we were hired to work in an office that's no longer an option for the majority.

molerat

The gateway will show how this year's tax code is arrived at and will deduct a figure of 5 times any tax owed from your code.

The gateway should also show how much  income you had in the previous year and how much tax was deducted. It should be fairly straightforward to work out how much tax was due and if what they have calculated is accurate.

sheramber

if your contract is to work in the office then you should ask your employer to cover expenses for working from home.

Brie

molerat said:

The gateway will show how this year's tax code is arrived at and will deduct a figure of 5 times any tax owed from your code.

The gateway should also show how much  income you had in the previous year and how much tax was deducted. It should be fairly straightforward to work out how much tax was due and if what they have calculated is accurate.

sheramber said:

if your contract is to work in the office then you should ask your employer to cover expenses for working from home.

@molerat - it doesn't show everything about the tax code and doesn't show any salary information for last year.  Not sure how one works out one's tax when there's salary sacrifice etc.

@sheramber - they won't.

molerat

So there is nothing when you click "What makes up your tax free amount"  ?

sheramber

Brie said:

molerat said:

The gateway will show how this year's tax code is arrived at and will deduct a figure of 5 times any tax owed from your code.

The gateway should also show how much  income you had in the previous year and how much tax was deducted. It should be fairly straightforward to work out how much tax was due and if what they have calculated is accurate.

sheramber said:

if your contract is to work in the office then you should ask your employer to cover expenses for working from home.

@molerat - it doesn't show everything about the tax code and doesn't show any salary information for last year.  Not sure how one works out one's tax when there's salary sacrifice etc.

@sheramber - they won't.

Then go into the office to work. They cannot force you to work from home if it is not in your contract.

But, I expect, you prefer and choose to work from home.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Not sure how one works out one's tax when there's salary sacrifice etc.

The gateway site didn't include anything about a tax code change and the information on it is incomplete for previous years so not much help at all. that was my first stop.

HMRC don't need to know anything about salary sacrifice.

Your employer just reports your actual salary that has been paid and makes an additional employer contribution to your pension. That's why there is no pension tax relief due on salary sacrifice contributions as you don't actually pay them.

And you need to look at the PAYE section of your personal tax account and somewhere in there there will be a breakdown of how your current tax code had been calculated.

I've had a nice chat with HMRC and they said it's a change for this tax year not last and due to having a pension kick into payment with an incorrect tax code being used while still being fully employed.  

I suspect what they should have said is the pension company operated the correct (emergency) tax code.  But because this allowed some additional tax code allowances there is, at this stage, an underpayment to be collected.