massive increase in income tax this month??

[Taxxxx]

last month I was paid 150 more than this month. It seems this is due to an increase in income tax? I actually don’t know how I am going to cope, nursery has just gone up 129 a month too. I thought tax was supposed to be a tiny bit less in 2024, not substantially more?!

On maternity pay/SMP for part of last tax year?

OP has already said her tax code hasn’t changed so HMRC won’t be able to help. She needs to take it up with her payroll provider.

looks back at payslips before March. It could be you paid less previously due to over paying tax earlier in the year, for example, a bonus

Did you work a full year last year at the same rate?

There isn't anything like M1 or W1 next to your tax code?

Have your pension contributions stayed the same?

Have your NI contributions stayed the same?

Can you post a picture of your last months and this months payslip with all identifying details scrubbed out?

Totally irrelevant - OP is not looking for sympathy or pleading poverty and they are right to scrutinise and question deductions

She’d be paying less NI than last April (assuming everything else was the same) due to the change from 10% to 8%.

She’d be paying more NI than in March. They don’t divide the higher rate band by 12 and you pay an equal amount monthly. You pay NI at the top rate until you’ve paid enough to move to the lower 2% rate then pay that for the rest of the year.

My husbands is the same, I believe it is a new tax year / tax code issue that maybe hasn't been updated properly for you?

Maybe it's not been recorded yet on your tax account that you've done this?

But since January your pay should have gone up twice simply due to the reduction in NI. I earn slightly less than you but my take home increased by about £60 each time, so your April take home should be more than March, not less.

Have you compared the tax you paid for the whole of 2023/4 with what a tax calculator says you should have paid?

Do you have any taxable benefits like a company car?

We all live to our means, so a drop in income is relevant!

NI is not cumulative like tax. It’s calculated on the current pay period hence why the government publishes weekly and monthly thresholds.

I asked payroll about this today. Statutory Directors (even those that don’t have shares and are really just employees) do pay NI cumulatively like tax.

You were obviously correct for normal employees.

Sorry for any confusion I caused.