Why am I paying more tax this FY?

[PrinceRupert]

Were there changes to income tax that I missed? As far as I can see the brackets and the personal allowance didn't change ...

I'm a higher rate tax payer.

Just realised my April and May payslips are £205 lower than my March/Feb/Jan payslips. My basic pay and pension contributions are the same, the only difference is income tax is £214.40 higher and my NI contributions oddly are £8.74 lower.

[Eric Mc]

Are you under PAYE.

If you are, have you examined your specific PAYE Coding for 2020/21?

[Mr Pointy]

In order to pay for the Covid furloughing there's a new tax on questions asked in the Homes & Gardens section of PH.

[PrinceRupert]

@EricMC

Tax code for this FY: 555T
Tax code for last FY: 1199T

Do this suggest I have been underpaying tax last year and might get a big bill? I did faff about with tax codes at start of year due to changing pension contributions / loss of personal allowance.

Mr Pointy said:

In order to pay for the Covid furloughing there's a new tax on questions asked in the Homes & Gardens section of PH.

Then I am screwed ...

[bogie]

You have a lower tax code so paying more tax this year. You should have received a coding notice from HMRC that explains your new tax code and how it is made up. If you didn't, you can access your personal tax account online on .gov.uk and it will detail your tax code there. You can then amend anything incorrect e.g. pension contributions planned for this year.

[Eric Mc]

Yes - you need to understand why your personal tax allowances have been slashed.

[PrinceRupert]

It seems that HMRC isn't taking account my pension contributions in lowering my income below the level at which my personal allowance is lost. So it is assuming I have lost a chunk of my personal allowance, when I shouldn't have. Do I need to phone them? I suspect it might be difficult to get through to them ...

I am not entirely sure what tax allowance I should provide for ... should i take into account my bonus (of which I don't know how much it would be)? Leave it and deal with it at end of year?

Edited by PrinceRupert on Wednesday 20th May 14:02

[chomer75]

I managed to get my tax code changed (due to increasing pension contributions) last month back via the HMRC on-line chat. The person I was chatting to did it all for me. Most (surprisingly) helpful.

[Eric Mc]

Phone them and explain the situation to them.