PAYE, but owe £1k in tax?

[Callamia]

Educate me... because I might be missing something.

I am paid through various jobs, but all through PAYE, and I have no other incomes/huge savings/property etc. I have one main job, and then periodically I do bits of work for other large organisations that are all paid via PAYE - I definitely pay tax and NI on these.

Why then, have I just received a letter from HMRC telling me that I owe them over a grand? Where are the errors in my tax payment occurring? My main job puts me in the higher-rate bracket already, so I think I'm paying higher-rate tax on everything already. What am I doing wrong here? Should I give up, and just enter a self-assessment tax return each year to avoid these unpleasant situations? Should I hire an accountant?

I'm on maternity leave right now, and can't really afford this kind of bill. I assume that my tax code will be re-adjusted to pay it off, but I kind of resent the surprise (not paying it - I'm more than happy to pay what I owe - I'd just prefer not to receive a bill I can't afford).

I had a tax code with letters and numbers (like 1071L) for that second job, and paid nearly 1k tax.

The problem is your second job tax code. It should have been DO to collect 40% h/r tax whereas you seem to have had two lots of personal allowance.

but also I think speak to an accountant about how to avoid this in future.

No need - just tell HMRC what you're earning in each of your jobs and they'll allocate the right PAYE codes to each. When you start a new one, do the same - tell HMRC asap.

You only need an accountant or IFA if you want advice on tax planning etc., such as investing in pensions or if your tax affairs are complicated for other reasons. There's nothing an accountant can do that you can't - they'd likewise just have to contact HMRC to tell them of your jobs and income and ask for correct PAYE codes to be issued.

Maybe even better would be for you to register for an online tax account, which would enable you to take control of your PAYE codes and keep HMRC updated with your various jobs etc.

Ok! THAT makes sense.
I'll also need to save up for next year then.

Thanks all.