Overpaid tax 9 years ago. How can I get a refund?

[MazzleDazzle]

I work in the public sector. From 2007-2008 I was significantly overpaid.

I notified my employer immediately, but the overpayments continued. Finally they stopped and I had to wait for them to issue an invoice to pay the money back. This took years.

Anyway, I lost track of how much I'd been overpaid and simply paid the invoice.

It's only just occurred to me that I would have paid tax on the overpayments and I should have claimed it back at the time.

From what I can find online, there's a 4 year limit on tax rebates. Is there any way round this?

I very much doubt there is anything you can do now, it's too long ago

You could try contacting HMRC but I don't think you will get anywhere

It seems very unlikely that you can make a claim eight years on, unless there was a mistake by HMRC or other government department (see www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/self-assessment-claims-manual/sacm10040).
You could try phoning them (or writing if you don't have time for a potentially long wait) to check, but I wouldn't be optimistic. www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/income-tax-enquiries-for-individuals-pensioners-and-employees

Thank you for those links zoop. It's worth a try! I'm kicking myself for not realising at the time.

It's even more frustrating I did nothing wrong.

I recieved a letter from hmrc stating im due tax back and there sending a "payable order to barclays" what does this mean?

HMRC overcharged my Aunt (in her 80s now) for 20 years after her husband died. Only a couple of hundred pounds a year, but even so. She had all of the paperwork (which she'd filed and not checked!), but HMRC would not refund over 4 years.

Hope you have more luck!

Did you file Self Assessmt tax returns by any chance OP? If so, claim overpayment relief (check Hmrc website fir details). If not, you've no chance.

Dannyboy - they're sending a cheque directly to your Barclays account. It should be there about 3Weeks from the date of the letter.

I dont have a barclays account though? It says sending a payable order to barclays plc. Could that mean instructing barclays to release payment to me?

I'd call them in the morning to find out where it's gone, dannyboy. If it's been misdirected they can cancel and reissue it, so don't worry.

Mazzle the chances are that you only repaid the net amount back to your employer so you probably haven't lost out. Did you keep a copy of the invoice? Can you ask your employer to check their records of what you paid?