Income Tax Codes And Deductions

[douglas9401]

Hi. My daughter recently started a modern apprenticeship and has this very day received her first wage slip.
It was a bittersweet experience as she's had a fair chunk of tax deducted, something she's not used to with her part time job.
Each job shows a different tax code on the payslip, BR for the new job and 944L for the part time one. I had thought that all income up to a threshold would be taxed at the same rate through PAYE.
Her colleague who started at the same time on the same job had much less deducted and we're wondering why.
Is it just a matter of contacting the tax office or the wages bods at her new job or is there more to it than that?
Ta.

[frugalfred]

BR means "basic rate". Get in touch with the Tax Office. Her new employer has not yet been informed of her tax code, so has to deduct at basic rate.

[factor-fiction]

Ask HMRC to swap the codes round

[factor-fiction]

Or you can ask for the tax free allowance to be split in a better way- eg one could be 544l and one 400L

[factor-fiction]

I'm not sure the 944 code is the latest one anyway- that looks like 2013/14 to me. The allowance is around £10000 now

[frugalfred]

Assoon as the new employer knows that her tax code for the current financial year is 944L, the income tax take will be adjusted to reflect that code, and any overpayment will be refunded as a rebate,

[Old_Geezer]

At this site we get folk teasing us with talk of 544l and 400L but not mentioning why they're so good :-p

[frugalfred]

f-f - I took the OP to mean the daughter had left the part-time job and started a full-time apprenticeship.

[douglas9401]

The Revenue instructions for employers do mention 'adding 56' to 944L to lift the allowance to £10,000 right enough, Factor.
Thank you all, I'll ask her to contact the wages department at her full time job.
She was worried that she might have to give up the weekend one, that's the one that puts the petrol in her wee car. :)

[factor-fiction]

544L and 400L were just an example of how a 944L code can be carved up. If you have two jobs with earnings totalling less than £9440 it's better to split the code so neither job attracts tax. HMRC will advise if you tell them expected earnings

[factor-fiction]

Maybe, frugalfred. It will sort itself out once they get the tax code but ask hMRC to speed it up

[factor-fiction]

Thanks- so she does have two jobs now. It does get messy- I have two small pensions and three part time employers and it needs a close eye to be kept on it

[Old_Geezer]

You can pay less tax if you spilt things up ?!? The more I hear of what those in charge decide, the lower my opinion of them drops. If total income indicates one should contribute £x to the public kitty then £x is what the total should be no matter how the earnings are obtained. shakes head

[factor-fiction]

I think you have misunderstood, O-G- maybe I didn't explain it very well. By splitting the tax codes it can help ensure you pay the right amount of tax straight away, rather than overpaying tax and then having to claim it back at the end of the tax year.

[buildersmate]

What you are implying OG is incorrect. Any overpayment or understatement of tax during the tax year is corrected by HMRC end the end of the year. But clearly for those with several part time jobs and struggling to survive, they'd rather have the amount of tax deducted right during the year, not overpaid. The revenue are merely interested in ensuring that no individual gets tax codes that total greater than 100L - the FY14/15 personal allowance. That's why factors idea is a good one.

[Old_Geezer]

Thank goodness for that.

[wolf63]

Douglas (or is it dug-less?) what apprenticeship is your daughter doing? Just being nosey, but they seem to be a good idea.

[douglas9401]

Revenues Officer with the local council wolf63. Good gig if you can get it. :)

[boxtops]

The way her employers are deducting tax is the way HMRC do it for me, with more than one source of income. My main job has the tax allowance set against it, and all the others are BR - then it's adjusted at the end of the tax year. If the apprenticeship is the main source of income, then she needs to contact the tax office and explain the position, IMO.

Different people do pay different levels of tax, the colleague's coding might be different due to personal circumstances we wouldn't know about.

[douglas9401]

They both do the same job at the same grade in the same department and are the same age, boxtops.
A call to the tax office seems like the road to go down.

[wolf63]

She will probably be able to suffer the work, it is the customer's phoning and calling that's annoying. I hope she enjoys the Job.