Tax demand

VTECMatt1

Received a letter saying owe £1200 relating to 2021/22 tax year.

Due to COVID during the 2020/21 tax year had little to no income, as resigned pre covid so fell between the cracks so to speak, so took on a job much lower pay to scrape through, with lots of debt. Unfortunately they messed up my wages and paid my wages from January to March from the 2020/21 tax year in April 2021. I got my job back in April last year and earnt a good yearly salary taking me into the higher rate bracket, as such I had to pay back some of the Child benefit which I did via self assessment.

As the company I used to work for, paid a lump sum in April 2021, I am in the unfortunate position to pay more tax which seems grossly unfair given this was the companies fault not mine and relates to 2020/21. 

Surely everything I work up until the 1st April 2021 should go against the 2020/21 tax year. How do I prove this to HMRC, the company are useless. I have numerous letters and emails to the company requesting confirmation.

Any help or is it best paying an accountant to help me out? I fear phoning them will be of little use.

thanks in advance.

Matt

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Received a letter saying owe £1200 relating to 2021/22 tax year.

What is the letter you have received?  HMRC letters often have a code in the bottom corner.

I got my job back in April last year and earnt a good yearly salary taking me into the higher rate bracket, as such I had to pay back some of the Child benefit which I did via self assessment.

Surely everything I work up until the 1st April 2021 should go against the 2020/21 tax year. How do I prove this to HMRC, the company are useless. I have numerous letters and emails to the company requesting confirmation.

Which tax year did you complete a Self Assessment return for? And roughly when did you submit it to HMRC?

You cannot change the facts.  And neither can an accountant.  But depending on what has actually happened that may be irrelevant.

VTECMatt1

Thanks

Refers to P800, but no other coding on letter.

Completed my self assessment May 2022, relating to 2021/22 tax year.

I appreciate the facts can’t be changed but they are incorrect.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

If you were paid in 2021:22 and the employer reported the earnings as such then they are correct.  Not incorrect.

However the good news is that you should not have a P800 and Self Assessment return for the same tax year.  As you have already self assessed that should take precedence and you can simply return the P800 to HMRC pointing that out and ask them to cancel it.

The liability per your Self Assessment return is what counts in this situation.

Where you may come unstuck is that at some point HMRC will realise you have failed to declare some of your PAYE income on your Self Assessment return and open a formal investigation into your return (Google HMRC S9A enquiry).

Obviously if you completed the return correctly that won't be a concern.

VTECMatt1

Ok thank you, I’ll call them tomorrow.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

This is HMRC own guidance which covers this situation of having a PAYE calculation (P800) and Self Assessment for the same tax year.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/paye-manual/paye93005

macman

Just for info, the cut off date is 5/4/22, not 1/4/22.