Underpaid..

mingmong

Tax. Lots of it

Just opened a HMRC letter that informed me that I owed £9,400 in Tax :?

I've been at my currently employer for 6 years. Whilst there, I've been on code 'BR' for the majority of the time, when I should have been on something different (especially when I was in the higher tax bracket for two years).

Just called the HMRC and it appears that it is my responsibility to inform the Tax office of my tax code. I have to admit, I just presumed that my employer would sort this for me.

As a family, we've come upon harder times as late, as probably everyone here has. They've given me a demand/satisfaction date of 7th Jan 10. God knows where I'm going to find that kind of money at the min.

Anyone else been in the same situation? Can I ask (very politely) for payment terms?

:oops:

simple_salmon

BEFORE YOU PAY - make sure it's absolutely correct.

I had a bill for £10,000 earlier this year that was more than double what I actually owed - NEVER take their first contact as gospel they get it wrong a lot.

Really hope you get it sorted and it doesn't cause you too many difficulties.

mingmong

simple_salmon wrote:

BEFORE YOU PAY - make sure it's absolutely correct.

I had a bill for £10,000 earlier this year that was more than double what I actually owed - NEVER take their first contact as gospel they get it wrong a lot.

Really hope you get it sorted and it doesn't cause you too many difficulties.

Cheers SS.

It's really put the dampers on Xmas for us.

They've sent me figures, so I'll have to sit down and go through them.

On further reading, it looks like I need to get a letter over to them asap explaining how it happened and where the fault lied. Then I need to plead for payment terms and give a breakdown of our financial situation.

Just what we need in December.

RedJohn

You should be able to discuss payment terms with them, call them / write etc.

As you say, be nice!

And as above, make sure it's correct too.

STEFANOS4784

Well i don't pay that much tax in a year so you can't be finding times that hard

Harry B

As previously said get the tax office to double check the figures. Get your employer to check them as well. Ask the tax office if what you do owe can be paid back over a longer period of time. Its not as if you are self employed and have tried to dodge paying tax. Whilst this may technically be your responsibility its hardly your fault. How many employees know what their tax code is/should be? They should be able to put you on a higher tax bracket until the money is paid back but they may also charge you interest! Your employer may be able to help out if necessary.

Good luck

Anonymous

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Well i don't pay that much tax in a year so you can't be finding times that hard

He really needed to hear that matey, come on......

BigG67

Definitely check if your employer will help, especially if they feel liable for the error in any way.

A similar thing happened with me and they lent me half and I paid it off over a year.

mingmong

Harry B wrote:

As previously said get the tax office to double check the figures. Get your employer to check them as well. Ask the tax office if what you do owe can be paid back over a longer period of time. Its not as if you are self employed and have tried to dodge paying tax. Whilst this may technically be your responsibility its hardly your fault. How many employees know what their tax code is/should be? They should be able to put you on a higher tax bracket until the money is paid back but they may also charge you interest! Your employer may be able to help out if necessary.

Good luck

Cheers HB.

RedJohn

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Well i don't pay that much tax in a year so you can't be finding times that hard

Doesn't work like that Stefano.

Pay, family, responsibilities, past problems, current situation, partner's income, all thrown into the melting pot. Everyone's situation is different.

Had a guy working for me who was stunned to realise that his disposable income was a lot higher than mine, depsite a salary of less than half - because of the way all the above worked out.

Oh yeah and I've just been made redundant. Happy Christmas!

STEFANOS4784

Sorry :oops:
But if you don't have the money they can't be unreasonable. I don't know but usually if you offer a repayment plan more reasonable surely they're not going to crush you?
Have no experience in this but do in blagging debt collectors

iainment

Whilst nowhere near the figure you've been asked for I had a demand for several hundred pounds from them once. The previous year was part PAYE and then I went self employed and then back to Paye. On going through the figures I realised that they were wrong and in fact I was owed money, after a bit of wrangling they paid up.
But coincidentally despite being on PAYE I received tax returns to fill in for about 10 years after.
Don't believe a word they say, check everything.
Good luck.

graeme_s-2

A couple of years back I discovered I'd been on a BR code for 3 years as my employer had lost my P60 from my previous employer when I started work. In my case it meant I was owed a rebate, but it's always worth checking the tax code on your payslip yourself and making sure it's correct, as mistakes can and are made.

Hope the OP can come to a decent arrangement with the HMRC

LangerDan

Can I suggest that it may be worth spending a few quid on getting professional advice from a tax adviser / accountant? Another bill might be the last thing you want right now, but in my experience these guys know how to work the system and exactly what your obligations / entitlements are.

hopper1

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Sorry :oops:
But if you don't have the money they can't be unreasonable. I don't know but usually if you offer a repayment plan more reasonable surely they're not going to crush you?
Have no experience in this but do in blagging debt collectors

This is HMRC and the can, if you adopt the wrong attitude. :shock:

tebbit

I was subject to an investigation by the Tax Office, the first said I owed them £10k, after three years of invetigations and threats, bailiffs etc, they finally decided I owed them £225.00. They can be unmitigated b*st*rds when they want, be nice, polite and reasonable at all times, even though you want to rip their livers out and make them eat them.

keef66

Unfortunately they are under no obligation to be nice, nor to offer easy repayment terms, so it is in your interests to remain at all times polite. My latest experience was them demanding over £1000 unpaid tax with only 4 weeks to pay before they started adding interest.
It was their fault; I'd correctly declared the taxable value of my company car on my tax return, but they'd clearly omitted to enter it into their system. No sign of an apology nor the opportunity to repay in instalments.

Fortunately I had the money.

Gazzaputt

Agree with what is said be nice and polite at all times.

These government agencies are all the same. Complete f*ckwits but they weald power over you and they know it.

Sad little shites most I've dealt with at the HMRC, CSA and tax credits.

CSA are by far the worse I found for not know their arse from their elbow followed by a very close 2nd HMRC.

solsurf

sorry to hear about that, It's like a sick feeling in the pit of the stomach.

I had a similar situation twice, once for company car, my employer had not completed the documents correctly (up to me to check)

Selling shares from a employee scheme when the company was bought out. (I did not file a return)

On both occassions it was around the 6k mark, they took payments over a year with some interest added. So they should give you some terms. Important to phone them straight away.

If I win the lottery this weekend I'll pay it for you



Goodluck

Frank the tank

It makes my blood boil when I see football clubs being given chance after chance to sort out dodgy bookkeeping and non-payment of taxes to HMRC yet the same organisation will willing crush the individual who may make an honest oversight.

Monty Dog

Definitely worth getting some advice from a specialist - you may be able to find you can claim deductions that you can offset against the claim, or at least make sure they have the accurate information in the first place. What really annoys me is that they make their forms so damn confusing, it's very difficult for the layman to understand. This year I send in a form to claim a tax rebate on business mileage for last year in August - still waiting for the payment - they've had a new systems installed and it's taking longer to process things.

benno68

Monty Dog wrote:

Definitely worth getting some advice from a specialist

+1 and get all of your pay history from your employer.

I've had an issue with the tax man in the past, again an honest mistake - they agreed to accept installments.

Maybe throttling the wages clerk will make you feel a bit better!

hopper1

solsurf wrote:

sorry to hear about that, It's like a sick feeling in the pit of the stomach.

I had a similar situation twice, once for company car, my employer had not completed the documents correctly (up to me to check)

Selling shares from a employee scheme when the company was bought out. (I did not file a return)

On both occassions it was around the 6k mark, they took payments over a year with some interest added. So they should give you some terms. Important to phone them straight away.

If I win the lottery this weekend I'll pay it for you



Goodluck

solsurf, if you win the lottery, might I just point out that I have a MASSIVE tax bill to pay....

It makes my blood boil when I see football clubs being given chance after chance to sort out dodgy bookkeeping and non-payment of taxes to HMRC yet the same organisation will willing crush the individual who may make an honest oversight.

They didn't give Kings Lynn FC any options last week!

Wanna buy a pitch?

And, NO!, I am not a supporter :shock:

mingmong

solsurf wrote:

sorry to hear about that, It's like a sick feeling in the pit of the stomach.

I had a similar situation twice, once for company car, my employer had not completed the documents correctly (up to me to check)

Selling shares from a employee scheme when the company was bought out. (I did not file a return)

On both occassions it was around the 6k mark, they took payments over a year with some interest added. So they should give you some terms. Important to phone them straight away.

If I win the lottery this weekend I'll pay it for you



Goodluck

Cheers SS.

tlw1

nothing more I can add, other than deal with them with a smile on your face as some of them are human (very small percentage)!

Pross

I'm surprised they are making a demand up front if you are PAYE. I've been charged for underpaid tax (despite having completed a tax return and my employer using the code they gave me) and it has always been done by an adjustment to my tax code over the whole year without me needing to ask. HMRC are a pain in the backside, they make a mistake and expect you to rectify it instantly but when I overpaid tax I had to give them years of P11Ds to prove that they were wrong. Isn't there a limit on how far back they can reclaim underpaid tax? Thought it was about 5 years as the same applied to my overpaid tax.

tri-sexual

very sad news all round
hope everyone will get their finances resolved for the better in the up coming year.
unfortunately tax payers will be forever pushed harder for their monies in years to come due to the vast amount of debt the government has borrowed on our behalf (conservative estimate £850 billion but i'm sure that it will easily top £1 trillion when the true figures come to light)
so if you live on benefits or are a city banker who demand ever greater bonuses for failure then you will be fine, for the rest of us expect though times ahead