tax arrears

[Ankou]

two days before the new year i received tax details from 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11 which altogethrr identified i owe around £12,500 in tax.

am i just another statistic in this monumental cock up? i have not changed job or circumstances since about 2001 so it seems that somebody somewhere allocated me an incorrect tax code in 2008 with me unawares.

what is one to do ?

[ojread2]

"what average person really knows their proper code ? "

At a guess I would suggest that the % of people who know what tax they should pay is pretty high. Obviously not 100% though ;-)
I know mine and make it my business to know

[ojread2]

mean to add this link for you

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/p9x.pdf

[Psybbo]

http://www.hmrc.gov.u...etax/codes-basics.htm
Tax codes the basics

[Eve]

Firstly, is there any reason you should not be on that tax code eg additional income from a rental property.

Secondly, doublecheck all your figures in case there is any error.

I was being charged double tax I initially thought was emergency tax so rang HMRC who said I had underpaid tax so owed them money and they had been taking it from my wages!

Your calculations with one job should be far simpler than mine (same place but three separate employers and weekly to monthly pay and sometimes different hours!).

I got every payslip and made a spreadsheet of all pay and deductions (make sure you include things like non-raxable pension contributions properly). I checked my figures against salary calculators showing the tax due on my correct tax code (backdated ones here - https://www.payslipsp...alaryCalculator.aspx) and HMRC's own one with total figures.

After a number of headbanging phonecalls with HMRC I got them to send me a breakdown of the figures (took a while!) which confirmed that they had the wrong figure for the pay I'd received.

They tried to pin this on one of the agencies I was employed through, saying one of them must have got the figures wrong, so I double-checked the P45 figures (all correct) and got statements of earnings from both and sent them to HMRC to show THEY had got the figures wrong so their system was showing I had earned a lot more than I had and therefore underpayed tax!

It's taken a while (4 week turnaround I was told) but my tax code has been sorted and I just got a rebate!

Definitely worth checking if your yearly P60 figures or other figures (or payments made to them for your tax!) they have for your earnings and tax liability are correct - if you have all the figures to hand (what you paid and what you should have paid) it's easier to see what might have gone wrong where and who is at fault.

If you have a HR/payroll department or workplace accountant then they may be able to provide a statement of earnings.

Have you heard about this happening to anyone else that you work with?

[EvianBaby]

Don't you work for them Helen? It's understandable that you'd want to stick up for them but its common knowledge they have majorly stuffed up recently.

And would you really expect someone who has been in the same circumstances job wise for 10 years to keep checking their tax code. I wouldn't.

[Eve]

I only blamed them because it was their fault in my case though (even though they tried to blame someone else).

[Ankou]

ojread2, i was aware of my tax code and since none of my circumstances changed, would not really be sure apart from changes in uk tax generally as to why mine would change.

redhelen, i am accepting some culpability but until i can fathom out what has happened - with the help of my tax adviser, someone somewhere changed something and now i have to pay. i aint dodging taxes, i've been paying my full dues for 24 years (or thought i had)

jenna, thank you. i am in the process of digging it all out. i am in full time employment, 1 employer, no secondary income of any sort - the only taxable benefit i have of note is private medical care which again has been in place for the last 10 years. hopefully my ta can shed some light and hope.

thanks all for your responses.