Quick tax question

[BornToShopForcedToWork]

Hi,

I hope somebody can help. I started my current job in February, the 3rd being my first payday (I get paid £375 a week net) and I didn't work in England since last year March. I lived in Brussels for ten month. Anyway my employer told me today that the HMRC said that it's still the 11/12 tax year and therefore I wouldn't need to pay any income tax. My employer then told me that he has to pay me back the income tax for nine weeks. According to Mr Anchovy's calculator it would be £68 income tax a week, is this right?

This is why you should have agreed a gross annual wage. Under normal circumstances £375 net is £485 gross weekly however given that you haven't used any of your tax free allowance and the weekly tax calculation incorporates 1/52 of your allowance I'm not sure where you stand because if you'd agreed, for example, £600gross, you would be entitled to the tax free proportion of that.

I would be inclined to point out that your annual gross wage would be £25,282 and they should use that for their calculations.

Fraktal I agree with you, but I found this position through an agency and they advised my employers to agree a net wage. I don't know why agencies do that. My employers are first time employers and I still don't have a contract. MB is chasing the agency but they take ages. We started setting it up with HMRC but this also takes quite a while. MB said that he owes me money, he just needs to calculate how much and I was hoping for an answer here.

Name and shame. Agencies really should know better!

HMRC don't deal with net wages anyway. Are they using a payroll company? If so then they should be able to sort it out.

Do the agency insist on using their contract? If not I'm happy to email you the one I use if you're who I think you are.

Or point your employers in the direction of MN and namechange pronto!

Tbh there isn't a simple answer. The simplest is to go with what your gross weekly wage would be (£485) in which case they're correct.

Fraktal I have messaged you.

Yes, name and shame the agency. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't provide a contract, or if they do it is useless anyway, I have seen some real rubbish that doesn't comply with employment law or provide any real clarity for either party.

Setting up with HMRC shouldn't take time, they will register your employer and give them a reference number over the phone, but your employer doesn't need to do this to pay you correctly anyway (although it does take about a week to get set up online so you can use the HMRC payroll tools).

You should have filled in a P46 which enables your employer to pay you up to the personal allowance of £7,475 by the end of March without deducting tax (which you won't reach having started in February), but NI will need to be deducted.

HMRC provide tables for calculation using a net pay agreement, or you can use payroll software designed for the purpose - or agree a net salary and use HMRC's online tools. Best of all point your employer towards one of the reputable payroll agencies who will sort everything out including a contract for less than £150.

Thanks MrAnchovy,

They did that all today. All they have to do now is to wait for their PW to log in into their online account. We just discussed that at dinner.