Tax error on payslip

guitatistanime

I am posting this on behalf of a friend.

The company has made an error on my pay slip, meaning I've been taxed way more than I should be. Payroll won't respond to me for 5 days and the reduction is going to mean I can't afford a mortgage payment. My mortgage payment is due the same day that I get paid, which is in 2 days time. What do they legally have to do in this situation (and within what time frames)

Exodi

Firstly, we need to be clear if this is actually a mistake by payroll, or more the instructions they have been provided with are wrong (which I think is more likely).

People are responsible for their own tax. The timing is too coincidental so I wonder if this this error has been caused due to a tax code change, or an incorrect BiK amount (as P11D's just updated).

I'd login to (or create if they don't have one already) their personal tax account and have a look that the details held there are correct, and mirror your payslip.

Personally I think chances of clerical errors by payroll are very low but not impossible (payroll software automates the amounts, it's not as if they're working out tax every month with a calculator and a scrap of paper). 

Unrelated - I'm not sure what you mean by 'What do they legally have to do in this situation (and within what time frames)" - I think the law is somewhat irrelevant to this.

Any way they can physically speak to someone about this rather than wait for a ticket? Reality is it's probably too late to do anything about the payment in this pay cycle - they will need to find a way to cover the mortgage payment ASAP.

baser999

Seconding the last response. Perhaps have a word with the bank/BS explain that employers seem to have screwed up salary and might be issue with payment.

TELLIT01

First step is definitely to inform your mortgage provider of the short term problem.  If you suffer any bank charges etc due to insufficient funds, and your employer has made the error, they should reimburse those costs.

comeandgo

Legally, absolutely nothing.  Tax is controlled by the code provided by HMRC.  If it’s the correct tax code that has been used then your friend needs to contact HMRC .  If it is an employer payroll error then hopefully they would give a cash payment to increase the amount given and expect refund in next payment.

MalMonroe

Your friend should login to their HMRC personal account (everyone has one, you just need to register) and if the tax is incorrect, they can message HMRC on there. Even if the tax is correct, your friend can query it and they will explain in a return message. I've used that service myself and it's better than having to hang on the phone.

The employer can't do anything, they just do what they are told to do by HMRC. 

If your friend has overpaid, they will get the money back and in my case (it happened twice to me), I was refunded in my next monthly salary and didn't have to wait until the end of the financial year.

It's well worth registering your personal tax account with HMRC, if your friend hasn't already done that.