Repayment of sign on bonus

[Dreadmill]

Appreciate input from anyone with personal and/or professional experience of how these things work.

I took a new job earlier this year and worked for the company for 2 months before deciding to return to my previous employer.

My contract stipulated, and I have no issue with, repayment of my sign on bonus less 1/260 for every day worked if I resigned within a year.

Here is the rub, I have already paid income tax on the full sign on bonus. As such I need my P45 to reflect this otherwise HMRC won't refund my tax.

The company however have already issued a P45, which of course is not adjusted to reflect what I'm due to pay. Emails to them are completely ignored even now so it's not filling me with confidence that I'll be able to chase up a revised P45 once I make the payment.

Any advice on how to proceed? Will HMRC accept the company's email demands plus a bank transaction as evidence to refund my tax?

Your tax will eventually be refunded to you at the end of the year - even if your previous employer doesn’t play ball if you can wait that long? Was going to suggest calling HMRC but I know they are an absolute nightmare at the moment.

I'd be happy getting the tax back at the end of this financial year, my problem is I'm not sure I can make the employer restate my income to reflect the part of the sign on bonus I'll have paid back.

They do have a reputation for not paying out monies due to former employees...

My experience since leaving (4 emails, not a single response) isn't filling me with confidence either. I just receive automated demands for repayment.

They will have paid NI contributions on your bonus - so they will be wanting a refund on those and that is their incentive. They have to tell HMRC about the payback to ensure they get a refund. You should contact HMRC You can easily prove you sent the money back - it's all traceable.

That's a good point about the NI incentive. Thank you dinky, this has given me the confidence to go ahead and make payment - fingers crossed for my tax rebate!

I really hope you haven't made the payment as I spent 2 years repaying a salary overpayment to my previous employer and never saw the refund of the tax and NI . Get the confirmation from HMRC first I would say in writing.

Failing that get your employer to deduct it out of your last salary payment pre tax and NI . Don't transfer money out your bank as that will leave you out of pocket