Employer not changing tax code

venueworker117

Hey guys since April, I have been getting taxed basic rate at my job, and now have overpaid more than £900 I'm tax. I am a student and don't earn enough to be taxed at the moment. I have been calling HMRC since September about this. They have sent multiple new tax codes to my job and I still have no rebate and am still paying way too much tax. HMRC say they can't do anything about this and whoever is in charge of our payroll has to make the changes. This is affecting me and my partner (same job) and also 3 other employees at work. 

I was wondering do I have any legal leverage here as it is financially straining and making my job feel pointless as we all work hard? I don't know what to do

Brie

how big is your employer?  and how effective is your manager?  

It is down to payroll to get this sorted and if people are on holiday and they're understaffed (as happens in summer time) then there will be delays.  But summer is over and people should get this sorted.  Have you checked that they have the right info?  Maybe HMRC hasn't sent it or sent it to the wrong address. 

Can your manager add some leverage to payroll to get this sorted?  Get it escalated up the management line maybe with the comment that being underpaid is the sort of thing that makes people leave their jobs for a better organised company.

venueworker117

We work at a fairly big music venue, they are basically telling us they have not received our new codes, which they must have as HMRC have sent them to the only adress multiple times, we have also spoken to our manager and that is the only response we ever get, that the person who does payroll hasn't received them. It's ridiculous as we have sent proof to our admin team and HMRC have said they can't do anything apart from send it again. Christmas is soon and the tax man has a lot of our hard earned money that they shouldn't 

baser999

Perhaps suggest that someone in payroll, or even your manger, calls HMRC. It is the company’s duty to operate the correct payroll. Any self-respecting company would do this if they valued the staff.
Wouldn’t put up with the b******t they’re giving you about not receiving code numbers.

liz_bartun

Payroll should call HMRC to check what's going on if they haven't received the tax codes. I'd be concerned if I wasn't receiving notifications for one of my payroll clients.

TELLIT01

Even with the correct tax code you won't necessarily get a rebate until into the next tax year.  HMRC has no way of knowing what your earnings for the year will be at this stage.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

TELLIT01 said:

Even with the correct tax code you won't necessarily get a rebate until into the next tax year.  HMRC has no way of knowing what your earnings for the year will be at this stage.

The op did refer to this being since April so I suspect the tax code was issued on a cumulative basis so any tax refund due would be made by the employer the first time the new tax code is operated.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

venueworker117 said:

We work at a fairly big music venue, they are basically telling us they have not received our new codes, which they must have as HMRC have sent them to the only adress multiple times, we have also spoken to our manager and that is the only response we ever get, that the person who does payroll hasn't received them. It's ridiculous as we have sent proof to our admin team and HMRC have said they can't do anything apart from send it again. Christmas is soon and the tax man has a lot of our hard earned money that they shouldn't 

Not really, your employer deducted it and it's your employer who will refund if to you.  Eventually

Is there any reason you didn't start off on the emergency tax code (1257L) back in April??

Devongardener

venueworker117 said:

We work at a fairly big music venue, they are basically telling us they have not received our new codes, which they must have as HMRC have sent them to the only adress multiple times, we have also spoken to our manager and that is the only response we ever get, that the person who does payroll hasn't received them. It's ridiculous as we have sent proof to our admin team and HMRC have said they can't do anything apart from send it again. Christmas is soon and the tax man has a lot of our hard earned money that they shouldn't 

Tax code notifications are rarely sent by post to employers, but are advised by notices in their HMRC PAYE online accounts. They need to log on and look!

Savvy_Sue

Devongardener said:

venueworker117 said:

We work at a fairly big music venue, they are basically telling us they have not received our new codes, which they must have as HMRC have sent them to the only adress multiple times, we have also spoken to our manager and that is the only response we ever get, that the person who does payroll hasn't received them. It's ridiculous as we have sent proof to our admin team and HMRC have said they can't do anything apart from send it again. Christmas is soon and the tax man has a lot of our hard earned money that they shouldn't 

Tax code notifications are rarely sent by post to employers, but are advised by notices in their HMRC PAYE online accounts. They need to log on and look!

That's true, but there was a hiccup last year where tax codes were being sent to individuals but not pushed through to companies. I do payroll, and ended up phoning HMRC and saying "I know there's a new tax code which the employer has not received, because the tax code is mine!" I knew of a few others as well. 

However, I am not aware of that being the case any more - they fixed that bug, and I received some new tax codes just last month. 

If you are getting nowhere, I would ask collectively for this to be resolved - so it's not just each of you doing it for yourselves, it's several of you working together. If you were in a union, I'd get the union rep involved. You need whoever is responsible for payroll to actually check for new tax codes and apply them. It is possible that this is outsourced, ie there's a payroll bureau in the mix, and in that case it would be whoever communicates with them to check that they are downloading tax codes. 

But out of interest, what is your tax code, and what is your gross pay to date? It's a myth that students don't pay tax - there was a complicated situation until a few years ago where vacation earnings weren't taxed if you declared you wouldn't exceed the Personal Allowance that tax year, but that has now disappeared and you're assessed every month with the rest of us ... Also you don't just start paying tax once you have exceeded your personal allowance: HMRC forecasts what you'll pay this tax year based on what you receive each month. That way if you have a regular income your net pay should be even, rather than not paying any tax initially and then starting to pay it towards the end of the tax year. 

Forgive me if you're aware of all that: I meet enough managers who have no clue about how these things work that my expectations are low ...