Think I'm entitled to tax refund, please help!

LindaS

I'm a recent graduate and started working on October 8th 2007. My salery is 24000 per annum, however I have only worked since October (2 days short of 6 months this tax year). My tax code is 552L.

I have been paying tax and NI every month, 316.50 in tax and 172.33 National insurance.

So that's 2932.98 in total. hoever I have not made 24 000 this year, I only worked 6 months and got 12 000. And a person earning 12 000 per year with 5520 allowance should only pay 1158 tax and 748 in NI.

So do the goverment owes me about £1000? Am I right?

How do I claim it back? Thanks for all help, I'm completely new to all this!

dzug

The National Insurance figure (£172.33 a month) is right - it is always based on the month's actual salary, and doesn't take any account of previous months.

The tax does look wrong though. Are you sure that your code is not 552L M1, rather than plain 552L? That would account for the difference. Whether you are due a refund or not depends on WHY the M1 was there - whether it was an error or not, and if deliberate what it was trying to achieve.

fengirl_2

You are on emergency code as you havn't advised HMRC what you were doing before this job. You will now need to wait for your P60 from your employer and send it to HMRC with a letter setting out what you did for the whole tax year. If you had no other income, you will be due the refund as you have worked out.

LindaS

Yes the code is 552LM (got my payslip now! memory was't as good as I thought)

But shoud I be paying 1930.62 (321.77 * 6) in tax this year? Listen to taxman says a person earning 12000 per year should pay 1158 in tax.

before this job I was a student. I filled in a P46 or whatever people fill in when they dont have a P45.

I am a Norwegian national and got my national insurnace number in October, so when my employer got that should't I be on normal tax rather than emergency tax? I had a very long interview to get the national insurance number.... Or does that have nothing to do with the tax code? This is all very confusing....

What is a P60?

dzug

LindaS wrote: »

Yes the code is 552LM (got my payslip now! memory was't as good as I thought)

But shoud I be paying 1930.62 (321.77 * 6) in tax this year? Listen to taxman says a person earning 12000 per year should pay 1158 in tax.

before this job I was a student. I filled in a P46 or whatever people fill in when they dont have a P45.

I am a Norwegian national and got my national insurnace number in October, so when my employer got that should't I be on normal tax rather than emergency tax? I had a very long interview to get the national insurance number.... Or does that have nothing to do with the tax code? This is all very confusing....

What is a P60?

A P60 is an end of year tax certificate issued by your employer

National Insurance and your tax code are completely independent.

The M1 on the end of your tax code means that you will have been paying tax on each month's pay independently - you haven't had the benefit of a cumulative tax allowance as the year progressed, just one month's allowance each month. So you will have overpaid and will need to claim it back.

The P46 you filled in SHOULD have got you onto normal tax rather than month 1 - certainly once the tax office had processed it and confirmed your tax code. Sounds as though your employer may have filed it away rather than actioning it.

fengirl_2

As you are a Norwegian national, the previous information may not be correct. Whether or not you are due a refund depnds on your UK residence status. You need to download a form P86 from https://www.hmrc.gov.uk , fill it in and send it to HMRC with your P60 and letter. If you are resident in the UK for tax purposes, you will get the refund previously discussed - if you are not UK resident, then you may not. HMRC will need to review your case to advise you.

mitchaa

Why have you got a tax code of 552L? (£5525pa tax free)

The basic UK tax code is 522L (ie £5225 pa tax free) It is soon to be raised to 543L for next tax year. (£5435pa tax free)