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Original poster

Help! HMRC saying I owe them tax money

36 replies

dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:01

They say I haven't payed enough tax from Tax Years 2021-2022 but...

In January 2021 I went on maternity leave and received Maternity allowance.... then never returned to work as I was then on Maternity leave again in October 2021.

I resigned with immediate effect (never returned back from Leave), in July 2022

Hadn't stepped foot back into the office since January 2021 and didn't qualify for my NHS employers Mat leave so just had MA.

With other maternity leave I didn't even apply for maternity allowance as I was claiming carers allowance and didn't want to switch etc and it was all going fine

Can anyone help? Would I still be owing them something? I know I'll have to call

OP posts:
Original poster
dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:04

Should also add, I am currently still not employment so not currently paying tax that way either etc

OP posts:
LIZS · 25/02/2023 13:05

Is it tax or ni?

RedCarsGoFaster · 25/02/2023 13:06

Have you previously registered as self employed?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Antenatal & postnatal General money Maternity leave
Original poster
dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:06

RedCarsGoFaster · 25/02/2023 13:06

Have you previously registered as self employed?

No, never

OP posts:
Original poster
dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:06

LIZS · 25/02/2023 13:05

Is it tax or ni?

Tax

OP posts:
loudbatperson · 25/02/2023 13:08

You need to look at the breakdown very carefully and see if it correctly represents your actual taxable income for the year.

Without knowing the figures no one can properly advise.

Rollinghill · 25/02/2023 13:10

You can look at your taxable pay on gov.uk website, you'll need a government gateway password. First thing I would do is check that, you may be able to pinpoint the error.

Original poster
dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:11

loudbatperson · 25/02/2023 13:08

You need to look at the breakdown very carefully and see if it correctly represents your actual taxable income for the year.

Without knowing the figures no one can properly advise.

But I don't have any taxable income and haven't since January 2021, at which point my pay was around £800 a month anyway so didn't pay much tax

OP posts:
Quitelikeit · 25/02/2023 13:11

Even though you went on maternity in Jan 21

the tax year is from April 21-April 22

so why not look back through your payslips for those dates and see how much you earned

Quitelikeit · 25/02/2023 13:13

Even maternity pay is taxable

Original poster
dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:16

Quitelikeit · 25/02/2023 13:11

Even though you went on maternity in Jan 21

the tax year is from April 21-April 22

so why not look back through your payslips for those dates and see how much you earned

Nothing? Because I was just getting Maternity allowance

OP posts:
Original poster
dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:16

Quitelikeit · 25/02/2023 13:13

Even maternity pay is taxable

Maternity allowance?

OP posts:
Original poster
dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:18

Says online 'Maternity allowance is a tax- free benefit'

So how can I owe tax

OP posts:
Twiglets1 · 25/02/2023 13:20

It’s probably a scam. Don’t give them any personal details or pay them anything. There are a lot of HMRC scans around at the moment. I almost got caught last year until they went too far and said they would tell my employer I owed money. I got suspicious as suddenly they didn’t sound so professional. I phoned HMRC directly and they confirmed it was a scam.

RJnomore1 · 25/02/2023 13:20

How much are they saying you owe? Is there a calculation?

OnTheTuftedWilton · 25/02/2023 13:20

Are you sure it is HMRC and not a scam? What have you received from HMRC?

RJnomore1 · 25/02/2023 13:20

Oh and how did they tell you? Letter, email?

Original poster
dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:20

@Twiglets1 was it a letter you got? Seems legit as they know who my employer was

OP posts:
Original poster
dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:21

RJnomore1 · 25/02/2023 13:20

Oh and how did they tell you? Letter, email?

Letter

OP posts:
Twiglets1 · 25/02/2023 13:22

dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:20

@Twiglets1 was it a letter you got? Seems legit as they know who my employer was

No it was a phone call. But they seemed to know stuff about me so I think some company had sold my details. If in doubt you need to phone HMRC for advice.

RedCarsGoFaster · 25/02/2023 13:24

@dandydaysahead you need to go online to your HMRC account. If you've not done it before, you set up a login and then you can see all your income, tax payments, benefits (I found a fraudulent claim in my name that way), NI payments and pension entitlements.

Putdownthecake · 25/02/2023 13:26

Have you had 2 lots of maternity allowance? Don't you need to have worked within qualifying weeks to get it, could they have calculated this wrong and maybe you wasn't entitled? Ring hmrc directly or log in to your gov gateway account

HerNameIsIncontinentiaButtocks · 25/02/2023 13:27

Give them a ring and let them know. I got a letter once saying I owed £6k in unpaid PAYE for an employee; turned out they'd just randomly invented one and theorised that I'd pay them £22k. Naturally I hadn't paid the PAYE on this nonexistent person's nonexistent wage :) They cleared it immediately. Although they did also try to tell me they hadn't just "made it up like you are saying", but I just thanked them and rang off, no point arguing semantics after getting the actual problem fixed!

Morph22010 · 25/02/2023 13:30

dandydaysahead · 25/02/2023 13:11

But I don't have any taxable income and haven't since January 2021, at which point my pay was around £800 a month anyway so didn't pay much tax

Show quote history

Carers allowance counts as taxable income

gogohmm · 25/02/2023 13:39

Both maternity allowance and carers allowance are taxable but you need have earned at least £12500 inclusive of these and all employment to reach the threshold. You can easily check your exact tax situation by logging into your personal tax information online on the hmrc website (www.gov.uk -be very careful of clone sites)
There are fraudsters out there claiming you have underpaid, but in reality if you have underpaid they simply claw back via your tax code normally. I had one of these fraudster on Thursday call me - I earn below the tax threshold and do the payroll so I'm very aware I do not owe tax!