Tax Code

Whirly

Personal Tax Services reckon they can get me a tax rebate but want a one off charge or £75 or 0.40 of every £1 they get. How can I check that I am on the right tax code with out using a personal tax advisor or company?

CIS

contact IR and ask them. get your local tax office from the phone book.

grumpyoldgit_2

Hi

You might want to try this quick calculator - there are others - search via Google for FREE tax calculator:

http://www.moneyextra.com/advice/tax/taxcentral/

Cheers
GoG

ctm_2

There is no point going through these refund companies. They will do very little and charge you a lot for something that you could do yourself.

As others have said, use free calculators to check if you paid the correct tax.

Or give us some information on why you think you may be due a refund and someone here will probably help you out.

To check your code out, just ring up HMRC and check the code you should be on and then compare that with what you are on. Or again, let us know, and we'll tell you if it's wrong or not.

Whirly

Thanks for the advice so far. I'm a local government officer and got sent a form for the tax refund Company through unison. I filled in the form and they thought there was a strong possibility that I might be due a rebate. They didn't go into detail but I found the following information on bbc.co.uk which might be relevant.

'Items which could increase your tax free allowance are things such as subscriptions to a recognised professional or trade body or travel expenses other than those for home to work travel, which have not been reimbursed to you by your employer'

I'm a total newbie, what should I do next ?

amanda40

They will not tell you or help yoou with anything that the Tax Office won't do - for free. Just phone you local IR office and speak to the personal Tax Section - They will help and it will not cost you a penny. Too many people sign up to these companies and then they get a 40% slice of all refunds until the taxpayer informs the tax office they are no longer acting for them. Most folk forget to do this, so the company remains on their record getting money for nothing....

amanda40

if you have already filled in the form - ask the tax office to remove them as your agent and tell them you are not interested. Posting queries on here will always give you pointers too.

System

Have to agree with everyone else here. I used to work for the Inland Revenue and was amazed at the number of claims that came in via organisations like PTS. If you can't call into the nearest IR enquiry centre then write to your own office (their address is on your coding notice) and ask them to review your tax affairs. If you have any expenses like laundering your uniform and professional subscriptions which haven't already been allowed for in your tax code then you may be due a refund.

Another thing is that PTS correspond by letter only and do not give the IR the option of contacting them by phone to clarify matters so this means it can take a very long time for any refund to get back to you.

Whirly

So people don't think that Whirly is a complete newbie. I'm actually his better half using his login. I have already filled in the form, so I will contact my tax office to remove PTS as an agent. I can't believe that just by filling in the form they can set themselves up as my agent. Does unison membership count as a professional subscription? If I ask the IR to review my tax affairs isn't there a possibility that I could end up owing them money

WHA

Just to clarify, an "agent" does not automatically receive any tax refunds.

For them to get a tax refund, you have to sign another "authority" form, contained within each year's self assessment tax return, or as a separate authority letter signed by you, to confirm that the Inland Revenue are to make repayments to someone else (i.e. your agent or anyone else for that matter).

I am making this point so that the vast majority of taxpayers with accountants or agents do not worry that their tax repayments will wrongly be paid to someone other than the taxpayer themselves - they wont unless you sign another form to confirm that is what you want to happen.

Whirly

can anyone tell me if union fees count as a professional subscription. The IR office weren't sure.