HMRC and income tax

[HustleRussell]

I was pretty sure that I have been over-taxed for 2021-22. Bit of a messy year, I was on the dole for a bit and then I was temping, but PAYE. I was aware that I was on an emergency tax code for much of the time but this was rectified before the end of the year.

When I went on gov.uk I was told to wait until November when I would receive a letter if I had paid too much.

November came and went- no letter.

I recently logged on to my gov.uk tax gateway which stated simply that I had paid the correct amount of tax for that year.

I spent 40 mins waiting to speak to them on the phone and jumping through all the hoops but they quickly agreed that I had paid too much tax and that a letter would go out telling me how to reclaim it.

Not a small amount of money, by my calculations about £1,800.

A cautionary tale I suppose. Surely this can't be normal / a common occurrence? I thought being PAYE I could basically trust HMRC to get their sums right without my oversight?

Edited by HustleRussell on Wednesday 22 February 11:16

[otherman]

You could fill in a self assessment tax return and the calc at the end will show you exactly how the tax breaks down. You can even submit it, although you'll get a £100 fine for being late. But then if it turns out you aren't owed anything, don't submit it.

[Eric Mc]

otherman said:

You could fill in a self assessment tax return and the calc at the end will show you exactly how the tax breaks down. You can even submit it, although you'll get a £100 fine for being late. But then if it turns out you aren't owed anything, don't submit it.

If you weren't required to submit a 2021/22 tax return but request to complete one now, you will not receive the £100 Late Filing Penalty.

[HustleRussell]

Thanks both, good tip otherman- I'll probably do that when the letter arrives with their calculation.

[Countdown]

HustleRussell said:

I was pretty sure that I have been over-taxed for 2021-22. Bit of a messy year, I was on the dole for a bit and then I was temping, but PAYE. I was aware that I was on an emergency tax code for much of the time but this was rectified before the end of the year.

When I went on gov.uk I was told to wait until November when I would receive a letter if I had paid too much.

November came and went- no letter.

I recently logged on to my gov.uk tax gateway which stated simply that I had paid the correct amount of tax for that year.

I spent 40 mins waiting to speak to them on the phone and jumping through all the hoops but they quickly agreed that I had paid too much tax and that a letter would go out telling me how to reclaim it.

Not a small amount of money, by my calculations about £1,800.

A cautionary tale I suppose. Surely this can't be normal / a common occurrence? I thought being PAYE I could basically trust HMRC to get their sums right without my oversight?

Edited by HustleRussell on Wednesday 22 February 11:16

Apologies if I'm missing something but if your Emergency Tax Code was corrected before the end of the year then your tax would have been correctly adjusted.

Does your final pay slip for the year show the correct total for your Gross taxable pay?

[HustleRussell]

You've not missed anything Countdown- I have. Final payslip for the tax year is still emergency code. Payslip for month April 2022 has the correct code. Looks like HMRC just didn't automatically recalculate my tax over the year.