Tax

[Chocsmyfav]

Hi I don’t know much about how things are taxed but anyway. My partner worked for a company last year. The company changed names a few times so my partner got a letter from the tax office saying he had two jobs. Which he didn’t. So the tax office was taking a lot of money in tax from his wages. He’s since left this company but got a letter this morning saying he owes 3500 in tax. He’s phoned the inland revenue but is going round in circles here. His last company aren’t helping. We are in Scotland. Is there any one like an ombudsman he can contact.

You mean his employer was taking a lot of money in tax from his wages. HMRC simply sets your partner's tax code. The employer does the rest.

Did the letter come from HMRC or someone else?

What was his tax code before the company changed name, after the company changed name and now? If he is paying through PAYE they would usually recover any short fall through that. Or does he complete a tax return?

No it’s PAYE. He’s going to contact the citizens advice. His old employer changed names and after that he got a letter from the inland revenue saying he had two jobs. Today a letter saying he owed all that money. He actually thought he was getting a tax rebate from last year. He’s phoned the inland revenue and he’s getting no where. His old work weren’t even paying his pension but he reported them.

What tax code did they change him on to when they thought he had 2 jobs? BR? The easiest thing to do would be to talk to the payroll department at his place of work.

No there any an ombudsman that oversees HMRC.

If HMRC thought he had two jobs it is more likely he overpaid tax than underpaid it. Have you actually double checked the numbers to determine if the tax bill is correct or not? If you are happy to post them here I can check, or use an online calculator such as www.salarycalculator.co.uk

One job/two jobs or more he pays tax on the total amount added together and gets one tax allowance for the total.
His wage slips will evidence his income and tax.
He will get a P60 mid April with the previous years income and tax. It would be easier to wait for this which should agree with his final pay slip for 2020/21. He can also check his NI has been paid.
Assuming when you say last year you mean from April 2020 and not the year before when you already have your P60.

I've been fighting HMRC recently. They are in a right mess, re covid right now.

My fight is re 2 employees whose NI numbers were mixed up. They had 1 employee earning nothing. Another employee 2 earning his diary, plus employee 2's.

You had letter 1, from HMRC, saying he had 2 jobs?
You've had a 2nd letter? From HMRC saying he owes £3500?

1)when you ring HMRC and speak to the personal tax dept, make sure you note the date, time, name of who you spoke to. Keep detailed notes. It unnerves them.

2)Have you logged online to your husbands account. Take a screenshot of what his tax account says. Does it match his payslips and P60. Do and excel spreadsheet to highlight any differences.

3)Are there duplicates? Does it say he earnt £3000 in April 2020. And then on the next line he earnt £3000 in April 2020 again.

If there are duplicates, requesting old company submit an EYU can be tricky. Especially if they are .... the type to not pay his pension!

Op this happened to be years ago due to a hr error where I work. I was on matt leave and it was a nightmare. They will have reported the name change but not the ceasation of second job. It should be fixable they just need to show his earning. Mine got fixed as I still worked there but it took a fair few months.
Does he have all his payslips for the period and p60? Take copies and dispute the tax bill.
I'd also advice speaking to an accountant. Mine was helpful (I have a second stream of income so file every year anyway).

@Oblomov21

I've been fighting HMRC recently. They are in a right mess, re covid right now.

My fight is re 2 employees whose NI numbers were mixed up. They had 1 employee earning nothing. Another employee 2 earning his diary, plus employee 2's.

You had letter 1, from HMRC, saying he had 2 jobs?
You've had a 2nd letter? From HMRC saying he owes £3500?

1)when you ring HMRC and speak to the personal tax dept, make sure you note the date, time, name of who you spoke to. Keep detailed notes. It unnerves them.

2)Have you logged online to your husbands account. Take a screenshot of what his tax account says. Does it match his payslips and P60. Do and excel spreadsheet to highlight any differences.

3)Are there duplicates? Does it say he earnt £3000 in April 2020. And then on the next line he earnt £3000 in April 2020 again.

If there are duplicates, requesting old company submit an EYU can be tricky. Especially if they are .... the type to not pay his pension!

That is 100% the payroll administrators mistakes. HMRC don’t pay people and there is no way that HMRC could “mix up two employees NI numbers”.

You need to talk to payroll department.

Aprilx, I'm afraid you are wrong! It does happen from time to time. It's rare. This time was actually a HMRC mistake.

I've had many phone calls and letters with HMRC both Employers Helpline, and on behalf of both Employees (who gave authority for me to speak on their behalf) to Personal Tax. I also had a complaints number reference. Which anyone who deals with HMRC knows is actually quite hard to get.

I do accounts for a living.

Look it up. I did and I found 3 cases of it. And the person needed help from a specific firm of Accountants to resolve.

It's not necessarily a payroll persons mistake. It can be. But on this occasion it was not.

And duplicates. Can be payroll mistake. But can also be an HMRC error.
An RTI can be misallocated.

And speak to anyone who does book keeping and you'll find that sometimes HMRC resolves things quickly. And often NOT!

If it was just a company name change though, the PAYE & Accounts Office ref number would remain the same, so there should be no need to a P45/cessation of employment notification.

@Oblomov21

You d not have a clue what you are talking about. HMRC do not compute tax deductions. And what are the chances that they “mix up” two people’s NI numbers (what does that even mean) and then lo and behold those two random people happen to work at the same place.

This is a payroll administration error. But let’s not derail OPs thread.

• HMRC do not compute tax deductions during the year, only aat the end of the year,

Where did I say they compute tax deductions?