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Original poster

Urgent £ question.... Help

20 replies

fandango75 · 20/04/2012 20:38

The tax man is being unreasonable!!!!!!!

So my husband came home today from work announcing that he has been on the wrong tax code for 2 years (he is PAYE) and that the code changed this month to make up for the last 2 years and the yr coming meaning he gets £450 PER MONTH less from today (payday) with no f@@@@@g warning

Can this be right???!

I am on mat leave and this is the first month I go on statutory pay s could to possibly come at a worse time

He seems resigned to it which pisses me off but the main point is can they do this? I cannot seem to find outline and don't want to spen dell weekend worrying

Any help

OP posts:
hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 20/04/2012 20:41

How long has he worked for the company?

Rhinosaurus · 20/04/2012 20:41

If it is a tax office mistake, surely he could ring them and ask to spread out the repayments over a longer period of time?

Original poster
fandango75 · 20/04/2012 20:42

He has worked for them for 12 years
I think he should call hut he is just saying there is nothing that can be done

OP posts:
thestringcheesemassacre · 20/04/2012 20:44

Yes this happened to my DH this year as well.
We phoned inland rev to negotiate terms to pay it back over a period of time that we could afford.

There is nothing you can do except pay it. Unfortunately even though it wasn't his error, he still owes the money.

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 20/04/2012 20:44

This is from HMRC (tax office), does it apply in his case?

Original poster
fandango75 · 20/04/2012 20:45

Did you manage to negotiate a longer periodof time to payit back? It's the utter lack of warning and just knowing when you go to the cashpoint! Not denying it's owed it's how it's paid

OP posts:
hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 20/04/2012 20:45

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3094128This thread on Money Saving Expert may help.

Original poster
fandango75 · 20/04/2012 20:45

Ps thanks ladies much appreciated am in a bit of a spin about it

OP posts:
thestringcheesemassacre · 20/04/2012 20:47

Yes he had to make an immediate payment of £500 (on top of his regular tax) and then we got them to agree to £300 per month additional.
Also, be aware that you will probably have to pay more next year as well.

Sorry it's so worrying.

Original poster
fandango75 · 20/04/2012 20:48

Ok thanks so it's worth calling them then brilliant must be worth a try

OP posts:
Original poster
fandango75 · 20/04/2012 20:48

Bastards

OP posts:
fullofregrets · 20/04/2012 20:53

Happened to us last year. It amounted to £350 a month. DH had just had a pay rise so overall we were about £200 a month worse off than before, when we would have been better off without the tax repayment.

They should give you longer to pay it off, that is a huge amount of money to pay each month. How long will it take to pay off?

madmouse · 20/04/2012 20:56

If it is their fuck up they are still entitled to their money back but must give reasonable time. Feeding a family on £450 less a month with no warning is not reasonable.

You need to decide though whether you want short term sharp pain or long term ache.

Write to them asking how much you owe in total so you can have an idea what is yet to come. And if needed get advice from CAB or similar.

marriedinwhite · 20/04/2012 21:45

You need to find out who put him on the wrong code. If it was an error in the payroll department then the company for whom he works has some liability. If it was the tax office's error you certainly will have to repay but you should be able to negotiate a reasonable period and an affordable amount. I also think you should go to CAB or for the sake of one consultation and perhaps two letters - arrange a fixed fee - go to a decent high street solicitor (one with at least half a dozen partners) to negotiate this for you.

madmouse · 20/04/2012 21:47

That is a good point made by married - if payroll effed up they can negotiate a discount for paying it back to HMRC at once, then let you pay them in a reasonable time.

Morph2 · 20/04/2012 22:10

i wouldn't bother going to a solicitor its unlikely they will know anything about tax or dealing with HMRC. An accountant would be better but i doubt anyone would want to deal with a one off like this. Prob best to stick with CAB.

How did the underpayment arise?

If its something like he had a company car provided but his tax code was never updated then he really should have realised as the onus is on the employee to check the tax code.

Employers should operate the tax code that is notified to them by HMRC (whether this is actually correct or not). If the employer had a new tax code notified to them by HMRC but didn't apply it and used a different code which resulted in the underpayment then he has some come back on the employer.

Original poster
fandango75 · 20/04/2012 22:33

Underpayment came from us switching to a company mortgage (he works for a big bank) which is a taxable benefit
He checks his code each month and it had altered so then thought nothing more f it.... Until today

Tax office open tomorrow so he will call and will also ger advice from CAB

Many thanks

OP posts:
Morph2 · 20/04/2012 23:17

when you get a company car the employer has the file a form P46(car) which results in a changed tax code. For other changes in benefits (such as getting a beneficial loan for the first time) there is no requirement for the employer to notify hmrc.

After the end of the tax year his employer will then prepare his p11d which shows his benefits for the year. If he prepares a tax return then any underpayment arising will be picked up by that- i'm assuming this is not the case for your husband- for people that don't do tax returns hmrc do a reconciliation but it takes them quite a while after year end of 5 April so i'm assuming now they have only just sorted his 2011/12 tax.

They should have updated his current tax codes with an estimate of the loan interest benefit from last year

good luck with phoning hmrc, mention that the repayment is causing you 'undue hardship'

sayithowitis · 21/04/2012 00:36

Similar thing happened to us many years ago, when we moved and increased our staff mortgage above the threshold they used at the time. ( About £30,000 I think - it was a looong time ago). When we got the letter I contacted them and explained that we would experience hardship - DC 1 had just been born and I was a SAHM- aand they agreed we could pay it off in instalments BUT they would charge us interest. The rate of interest they would have charged was exorbitant and would have completely wiped out any 'benefit' from havinf the staff loan. In the end, it was cheaper for us to take out a personal loan to cover it. Over the years,we found the idea of the 'cheap' staff loan laughable due to the amount of extra tax they charged on it and eventually we switched ti a high street provider at a cheaper rate than the staff loan, fixed and we pay no 'beneficial loans' tax. So we are actually better off not having the staff mortgage!

Original poster
fandango75 · 21/04/2012 19:46

Indeed looking at the tax it's not really a enforce a all. Going to bite the bullet and pay in one lump sum.
Hurrah. Not

Thanks for all the help

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