Emergency tax?

Question

Hi

I'm working on a temporary xmas contract for a certain huge company. So far I've had two wages off them; and I was emergency taxed on both. After the first tax, I gave my P46 to my manager. This was around 2 or 3 days after my first taxed pay.

I was very annoyed to find I had yet again been emergency taxed at the end of Nov. My assistant manager said the form will have been dealt with, as does my manager (who doesn't remember doing it though).

So...

1. Will I be able to claim back my taxed earnings before April?
2. Any ideas what my next move should be? Should I talk to Payroll/HR, or should I attempt to speak to my local tax office?
3. Would my P46 have been dealt with in wks or is it a long process?

Sorry for the many questions but this is my first job, and frankly I needed that money for xmas... Now I'm waiting on almost £200!

Thanks

Answer 1

If you signed the P46 to state this is your first job, then its your employer's responsibility to put you on code 522L and repay the tax to you in your next paypacket. As they have not done this, your first port of call is your payroll dept - ask them why they havn't done this.
If you failed to sign that this was your first job, you now have to ring your tax office and ask them what info they need to put you on 522L. Once this info has been provided, they will notify your employer of the correct code and the employer will refund the tax.
Don't wait until the end of the tax year, or you will join a long queue of epople who think you have to wait til the end of the tax year to reclaim their tax!

Answer 2

assuming you ticked the correct box on the P46 (the one which says this is your first job since leaving full time education) then you should be taxed using code 543L.

It sound as though your company are using a code of 543L on a month 1 basis. This will have M1 or and X after the code.

I would talk to your payroll department first to see why this has not been done. It is probably something simple such as not receiving the P46 form from whoever you gave it to. They should then be able to chase it up from their end.

If this is the case then they will be able to correct the deductions at the end of December. If it is their fault they might even be amenable to give you an advance on the money before Christmas.

Answer 3

1. See 2. below
2. Download another P46 from the internet [http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/p46.pdf] and send it to your payroll/HR department with a covering letter stating that it would appear that the previous one has gone astray. Please copy your Manager in as well to avoid ill feeling, and keep a copy yourself. Once they have received the P46, they can tax you on a month 1 basis (if you have ticked box B) .
3. Companies with more than 50 employees must submit starter and leaver information online from 4th April 2009. In practice, most very large companies have been doing this since 4th April 2005. I would be astounded if this information could not be done online instantly in your case.

More practically, the most difficult point would be to have Payroll/HR to accept that a first P46 was lost, and a blame situation avoided. In this case, your Month 3 will be taxed on a Month 1 basis with no cumulatives to ensure tax is kept to a minimum.

Let us be clear about this: if you have ticked Box A, you will be taxed on an emergency code cumulatively, and will have to wait until April to claim any tax back.
If you have ticked Box B, you should be on a week/month 1 basis from the first month (since they lost it).

Answer 4

1. It probably will be April, you usually can't claim it back before unless you're a student and promise not to work again once this job is finished.
2. Tax office.
3. Don't know - but it may not be your company's fault - I've done seasonal work somewhere where the local tax office insisted that EVERYONE be charged at the emergency tax rate.

Answer 5

my daughter had the same problem to solve this get in touch with the local tax office and you will get your money back good luck

Answer 6

You will certainly get the money back, but I'm not sure if you'll get it back before the end of the tax-year :-(

Answer 7

Tring yokel is wrong. The code should be 522.