Demand letter for £2159 Simple Tax Assessment 2022-2023 and 2023–2024

Chris56000

. . .HMRC have sent me a letter demanding a Simple Assessment Payment of £2159.00, made up of £967.00 for 2022–2023 and £1192.00 for 2023–2024!

. . .I have been paid approximately 60% of my salary, who's is quite a bit less than £12,570 (My tax code was 1257L until 1 April this year and the tax man has changed it to BR!

. . .The payments are from my Income Protection Policy held by my Employer's Insurer as I have not been allowed to work since 26 May 2021 on Eyesight grounds (I am employed as an electronics engineer) – and the remainder of my Income is £276.40 every fortnight from the DWP as ESA plus housing costs.

. . .Why have I got landed with this enormous demand out of the blue when I've not even been paid the personal tax allowance?

How do I contest this or appeal this? – I've got no way of paying this sum except from my "pension pot" with is only about £18k!

. . .All my payslips are electronic format only and I have not been allowed to enter my employer's building to access them  since I was sent home on 26 May 2021!

. . .The demand letter simply states that it is overdue and states nothing about to contest or appeal this and states "recovery action may be taken to collect the debt!"

TheSpectator

The ESA may be taxable as well. Does the calculation not show a breakdown of income?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Chris56000 said:

. . .HMRC have sent me a letter demanding a Simple Assessment Payment of £2159.00, made up of £967.00 for 2022–2023 and £1192.00 for 2023–2024!

. . .I have been paid approximately 60% of my salary, who's is quite a bit less than £12,570 (My tax code was 1257L until 1 April this year and the tax man has changed it to BR!

. . .The payments are from my Income Protection Policy held by my Employer's Insurer as I have not been allowed to work since 26 May 2021 on Eyesight grounds (I am employed as an electronics engineer) – and the remainder of my Income is £276.40 every fortnight from the DWP as ESA plus housing costs.

. . .Why have I got landed with this enormous demand out of the blue when I've not even been paid the personal tax allowance?

How do I contest this or appeal this? – I've got no way of paying this sum except from my "pension pot" with is only about £18k!

. . .All my payslips are electronic format only and I have not been allowed to enter my employer's building to access them  since I was sent home on 26 May 2021!

. . .The demand letter simply states that it is overdue and states nothing about to contest or appeal this and states "recovery action may be taken to collect the debt!"

If you haven't received the original calculations then you should ask for copies of those straight away.

The comment in bold suggest you have misunderstood what income you actually have.  Some ESA payments will be taxable and DWP would never deduct any tax from those.

It sounds like neither you or HMRC have kept your tax affairs as upto date as they could be.

You are likely to owe more tax for 2024-25 and also further arrears will build up in this tax year unless you get on top of this.  If ESA and your reduced pay are both continuing you need to get HMRC to issue a new tax code to your employer to factor in the ESA and they will start deducting some tax from now on.

If the calculations are correct then I'm not sure what sort of "appeal" you would make.  People paying their tax liability helps the government provide support such as ESA.

You may well have the option to make a payment arrangement with HMRC.  No idea what timescale they would agree to but all you can do is put forward a proposal that is reasonable to you and see what they have to say.

Chris56000

No, not at all – all it says is :–

"05 04 2023  Simple Assessment IT"
"05 04 2024  Simple Assessment IT"

. . . they've come up with this demand out of thin air from what I can see – the demand refers to something called "PA302" but I've never seen one!

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Chris56000 said:

No, not at all – all it says is :–

"05 04 2023  Simple Assessment IT"
"05 04 2024  Simple Assessment IT"

. . . they've come up with this demand out of thin air from what I can see – the demand refers to something called "PA302" but I've never seen one!

PA302 is the calculation letter you should have been sent.

Ask for a copy of those so you can if the figures are correct or not.

Whilst doing that make sure your tax code is brought up to date.

Chris56000

. . .They've changed it from "1257L" to "BR" starting 1 April this year!

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Chris56000 said:

. . .They've changed it from "1257L" to "BR" starting 1 April this year!

That might be a step too far though.  If you are receiving £7-8k/year in taxable ESA then you will have some unused Personal Allowance available for your reduced pay.

Assuming the BR code is being used for your employment.

sheramber

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Chris56000 said:

. . .They've changed it from "1257L" to "BR" starting 1 April this year!

That might be a step too far though.  If you are receiving £7-8k/year in taxable ESA then you will have some unused Personal Allowance available for your reduced pay.

Assuming the BR code is being used for your employment.

Have they coded in some underpayment?

molerat

Do you have access to your on line tax account ?  With that you can see a month by month view of your income streams and tax deducted back to 20-21.  If you are on contribution base ESA then that is taxable but not taxed at source.  You really need to get on top of your tax affairs, it is your responsibility to pay the correct amount of tax so best being ahead of the game.  You also need to contact the employer so you can get pay slips - although your on line tax account will show the relevant pay and deductions for tax and NI each month.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

sheramber said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Chris56000 said:

. . .They've changed it from "1257L" to "BR" starting 1 April this year!

That might be a step too far though.  If you are receiving £7-8k/year in taxable ESA then you will have some unused Personal Allowance available for your reduced pay.

Assuming the BR code is being used for your employment.

Have they coded in some underpayment?

Possibly but a BR code would only be applied to a second source so it would be some coincidence if the available allowance were exactly used in full by the ESA and an underpayment.

Hopefully the op will have a look at their Personal Tax Account to get a better idea of what is happening.

DE_612183

What payments are coming in - it's not clear.

You have £276 a fortnight - so thats £7176

How much is your Protection Policy?

You also mention 60% of your salary - is that in addition or is that the PP?

That may take you over the tax allowance - have you had nay tax deducted at all?

Also have you had any other income that could be classed as taxable?