WIBU to expect HMRC to fix my tax code in February?

[politelywaiting]

Thanks to stat mat pay, I earned less than £10K in 2021/22, even after starting a new job in Feb 22. All PAYE, no self employment or other income.
I knew they’d overtax me, they have form. So I did the online form early Feb, they said they won’t process it til 10 March, they took £200 PAYE in Feb. I phoned in Feb and asked nicely, after an hour’s call they promised they’d put me on a non cumulative code, then didn’t. I phoned again before March pay run, another hour on the phone being spoken to like I’m scum and they wouldn’t correct it as it’s too close to the end of the tax year (because of their delay/error), and instead took £300 PAYE in March. From prior experience I can expect at best a cheque for £500 in November (at worst a bill for £300, which after an hour on the phone they agreed I didn’t owe).

YANBU- in this modern world it takes merely moments to calculate that £10K is smaller than the personal allowance, apologise and switch a tax code, they should have corrected PAYE by March latest. In a cost of living crisis, after a skint year on SMP, with nursery fees to pay, you need it.

YABU- You jumped up peasants think you know how to calculate 20%, your mere £500 refund should be prioritised far below everything else, there’s been a pandemic and now there’s a war on, get over yourself and stop wasting important time of people who earn real money, you’ve got cheek after you already had free money to doss about on mat leave.

But HMRC don't know your individual circumstances - all they know for definite is that you currently have 2 jobs therefore you are being taxed as such.

If you started job B in February they wouldn't have been able to do anything about your tax code until they received the first FPS from employer B that included you as this is the notification to them that you've started a new job - by which point you'd already have missed getting anything sorted in February.

The February FPS won't have been fully updated on HMRC system until 12th March so depending on when employers A & B run payroll for the March run will depend on whether or not HMRC had the relevant information to make the adjustments. They don't just go on your say so that you're not doing any hours in job A FFS anyone with 2 jobs could just call up & get their BR code removed from a second job if that was the case causing no end of problems.

Thanks @JenniferWooley this is a far more informative conversation than I've managed with HMRC at any point so far. I hadn't heard of an FPS before, but I've googled and been educated.

I submitted corrections online on 17 Feb, employer B was visible in government gateway at that point, so HMRC had the info at that point, they could also see the info when we spoke in late Feb and agreed to change the code and split the allowances and make the codes cumulative, they just for some reason made it non-cumulative instead. Surely if the allowance is split and on cumulative codes, the only way it can go wrong is by someone overpaying tax or being taxed a lot at the end of the year, it couldn't have caused me to underpay when only set up in M12. Instead they set it up in a way that we all knew would make me overpay, and now won't give it back for months.

It's interesting that if energy suppliers take too high direct debits and accumulate credit you can ask for it back and it takes days, but HMRC are allowed to take 6 months plus to return your money.

Sorry but you're wrong.

HMRC will only allow you to have your personal allowance with one employer (or split it between the two). So if you are still employed you can't use any of your remaining personal allowance in your new job.

Did you ask to split your tax code?

Yes they happily split my allowance across the two codes, but used a non cumulative code which is where it went wrong.