HMRC self assessment tax overpayment...

[MillarMountVandal]

My husband is PAYE but submits a self assessment (online) for higher rate child benefit. Both 21/22 and 22/23 self assessment statements show a tax overpayment, with a note saying these overpayments will be added to his account statement, but no refund has been added. Has anyone experienced this? I'd've thought overpayments would be refunded unprompted? Being PAYE, we're both self assessment luddites! He's (understandably!) loathe to ring HMRC...

I had to do my tax return on one day (calculating an overpayment) then log back on again a few days later to request the overpayment be paid to me.

Used to happen automatically but now there is a pointless extra step which I guess they are hoping people will forget to do so they can keep it.

Repayments are automatic if you tick the box in the tax return and enter your bank account details.

If you didn't, they sit on account until you ask for repayment.

They won't appear on your personal tax account until a few days after you submit the tax returns as HMRC systems take a while to update, even longer if a weekend or bank holiday!

If you submitted the returns a while ago and the overpayments aren't showing, click on each year and look for "adjustments" as there is sometimes an automatic adjustment which means they are written off, from memory, I think the terminology is something like "permanent overpayment" or similar, basically them deciding you don't want the money, in which case you need to contact them to ask them to change it back!

Have a look at the tax code on his pay slips
if its not 1257L
then he either has P11d benefits
or they are refunding the tax through his code
or both

Just giving an update, and a heads up to anyone else in this situation.
You were correct @user1497207191 that because there were no bank details entered (I'd never even noticed that section, I always just skip to the child benefit section!) the overpayment was just left in abeyance. I wrote to HMRC and we've finally had the overpayments back in a cheque (we got a repayment supplement too).
My husband is an NHS employee, and because he does on-call his yearly salary can fluctuate. So HMRC estimate his earnings, and obviously we have this child benefit self assessment requirement, so he could end up being owed significant repayment. I'm just going to cancel the child benefit, I should've just did it long before now! Might make things less complicated.

Thanks again to everyone who answered 😊

You have to actively request the refund,and it takes ages. We have taken to not bothering because yhe chances are that there will be a correction the other way next year so it's easier to let them keep it and it tends to even out eventually.

Its only happened once though in the past 4 years that there was an underpayment, and they recovered that in his tax code (straight away, no hanging about when they were owed!). The two years showing overpayment were relatively significant sums (£1400 and £700) and neither sum had been included as an adjustment in his tax code, it was as though they were just floating in the ether! I only noticed it by chance in the SA302 section, yet when he rang to query they said they couldn't see it. We had to print both SA302 docs and post them!