Overpaid salary & tax/NI clawback.

Overpaid salary & tax/NI clawback.

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Discussion

jamesc_1729

Original Poster:

468 posts

188 months

Friday 1st May 2015
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Hi

Interested in any experience/help from the accountant or financially-savvy types on here.

My wife left a civil service job midway through February yet continued to be paid in feb & mar. In February she received a normal pay amount yet didn't query it immediately as she was owed some expenses/closeout leave adjustments so was waiting for the pay slip. In any case being paid in arrears she was expecting a payment on that date. (Pay slips had always been physically transferred to her and never posted before leaving so it wasn't a surprise either that she hadn't had one coincident with the pay date). Once she was paid at the end of March she immediately contacted the organisation by phone and email as it was clear with two large payments and no pay slips coming through that something was wrong.

The organisation had not performed a severance action on her personnel account hence continued payment. They have written to her stating that they require immediate re-payment of the gross amount now since the end of March was the end of the tax year so it is her problem to claim back tax, NI, student loan overpayment etc etc.

I can't believe they have put her in this position (of having to contact hmrc/slc/ni) by their own mistake and then washed their hands of sorting it out.

Is this common and how easy will it be to sort?

Cheers.

PurpleMoonlight

22,362 posts

156 months

Friday 1st May 2015
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No, she is only obliged to return the net overpayment she actually received.

Her former employer will have to try to reclaim the overpaid income tax and NI they have paid to HMRC.

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 2nd May 2015
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Something similar happened to me many moons ago. Took voluntary redundancy. Got paid a month after I left , which although unexpected it could have been valid due to cut off dates and arrears etc.
6 months they started chasing me to pay it back.
I said I'd spent it and agreed to pay back £25 a month until cleared, which they agreed to..