Emergency Tax - no end in sight

[tvod2244]

Shamelessly posting for traffic. At a loss for what to do.

Long story short, I have been emergency taxed for the 3rd month in a row now. This is despite numerous phonecalls to HMRC trying to change my tax code. They say they have no record of my job and that this lays with my employer. Until they have a record of my job, they cannot amend my tax code. I struggle to understand how they have no record of my job when I have been paying (emergency) tax, NI, pension etc on this new job for 3 months now.
HMRC say its my employer's problem. Employer say it's HMRC's issue.

I don't know what to do :(
This is well out of my control yet I am being penalised financially. I am now the best part of £2,000 short. I have bills to pay and mouths to feed and I am being passed from pillar to post. I have phoned HMRC every month since starting this job, one minute I'm told it's all sorted and then I get my payslip and we are back to Square One.

What can I do? What do I need to say? Who do I need to talk to? Nobody seems to want to take responsibility for this, and I'm the one who's stuck in the middle.

I feel so down, I'm sick of this.

Thanks in advance for any advice x

How frustrating for you!

You need to ring HMRC with your PAYE reference and the official address for your employer (e g., head office address). They can take the employment information from you and update your code from Basic Rate to the correct rate, although it might take some time to process through. If they still refuse then ask for a manager.

Typically it is usually your employer's fault for not passing on the correct info to HmRC. Did you join this job from another one, and supply a P45 timely to your current employer? Did you check the p45 was right (I was given one that was completely wrong once, caused a big nightmare as I didnt think to check it in detail before passing it to payroll in my new job!)

I would email payroll, cc the payroll manager, cc your own manager, cc the finance team department head (or if it is a small company whoever is the finance director) and say, you spoke again to HMRC who tell you that Employer has not sent the correct details to HMrc therefore, as it is employers fault you are currently out of pocket by a large amount of money, you would like an immediate advance on salary of £2000 paid to your account, to be recovered against your pay when your tax code is updated.

That's not unreasonable and it will focus minds in the finance team to sort out the problem.

Did you have a P45 from a previous job or is this your first job?

It would usually be the responsibility of the employer to inform HMRC of their new employee so that tax records can be updated. It's very poor of them to be denying responsibility unless they mean they've filled out all the forms, sent off your P45 and can't understand themselves why it's not updated.

I'd suggest trying this to get your current tax year 2022-23 sorted:
www.gov.uk/check-income-tax-current-year

And then www.gov.uk/check-income-tax-last-year
To check if you're owed a rebate from last year

I thought employers were supposed to report information in real time now? Is your employer not doing this? They should have made reports for the last couple of months and that should include the necessary information for HMRC (PAYE ref and employer's address).

Could it be due to any delay in receiving information from your old employer? Does your current employer have details of your earnings from your previous job so that they were able to correctly tax you for the time you worked for your new employer?

Have you filled the "I haven't got a P45" form in? Your employer should be able to submit that to them.

Do you have a payslip with the correct national insurance number on?

If so then it appear employer is doing things correctly (assuming they are also doing the real time reporting every month too, but that's pretty standard and been around for years))

So check hmrc can find the employers monthly returns and you on it (but they may not tell you that to be fair)

Do you have the paye reference of the new company?

Set up a personal tax account you can add employers and check the information held online. Having one has been really helpful

Do you have a Government Gateway account? If not, set one up asap. You'll be able to log on and see the PAYE info HMRC have for you. There's an option there to update Employer details if the one showing is not correct. You'll need your Employer reference number which is usually on your payslip. If not, your payroll department will give it to you.

Assuming the last of the 3 months you've been paid was for March, then I would wait (or ask your payroll department) for your P60. You can then do Self Assessment for the Year Ending Mar 22. You can then request HMRC to pay you any overpaid tax.

www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

link here you need a payslip from the last 3 months a passport etc

1. Did you supply a P45 or Starter Checklist to your new employer?
2. What tax code is showing on your payslips? £2000 sounds a lot of additional tax for 3 months, when BR (emergency tax code) would deduct 20% tax (unless you're a high earner).
3. Is your national insurance number on your payslip? Check it's correct if so, and ask your employer to check it's correct on their payroll software if not.
4. Ask your employer for confirmation of the RTI submissions. You'll need a reference off that for HMRC to look into it further, and you'll need to escalate it higher than the general HMRC helpline - I doubt they'll have the knowledge or access to help.

Thank you so much this is a really good idea and I will definitely do this, you're right it's not unreasonable to ask and will hopefully give them a bit of a kick to get this sorted and make sure it doesn't happen again!!!

Thanks so much everyone for all your help and advice, I really appreciate it.
I will get the world and his wife involved if I have to to get this sorted! The crazy thing is my new job is an internal promotion within the same organisation so its madness how it can get so messed up. Nearly 4 months in and I'm yet to enjoy my new increased salary.

I will get it sorted eventually won't I? It won't be like this for ever? 😞

I thought employers were supposed to report information in real time now?

This. It's a legal requirement. So your employer are evidently doing something wrong. Hope you manage to get it sorted!

The only way I have ever got any sense out of HMRC when issues have arisen is by writing to them. Time consuming but the people you speak to on the phone often just spout total nonsense, I've found when things are written down they seem to put a bit more effort in to actually resolve the issue.

that's really bizarre if you haven't changed employers - ask your payroll team for the companies tax office reference.
It's possible the employer runs more than one payroll - check that too.