Income Tax Rebate query

[mcfadwmc]

just a quick question to see if anyone has gone through a tax rebate assessment with the inland revenue

i was made redundant in 2002 (right on the six year deadline) and i've asked for an assessment for the year but i'm looking for any advice on how to do it easier/quicker

basically i'm trying to collect a statement of earnings from the job i was made redundant from and the job i went to. Then i'm getting details of my redundancy payment. should i be looking to provide the inland revenue with anything else. also where do i send the information to, my local tax office?


thanks in advance

[trevormax]

If you are working now or on JSA, your tax district will be the first three numbers of your employers/jobcentre's reference

i.e. 948/gz1453 - the first three numbers are the tax district (948 being South Wales). Any letters or phone calls should be directed at the dax distric for those numbers as this is where your tax record will be held (and will be the only place able to access it).

Im guessing when you say the 2002 year, you mean the tax year 6th April 2002 to 5th April 2003, but if you mean 6th April 2001 to 5th April 2002 i dont think you will be able to claim. The information you will need will be any and all income received in the tax year from all jobs and tax paid (as they might not have this information) and any benefits you received from employment like company car etc. Also if you had any state benefits while unemployed.

Any redundancy payment received is tax free up to £30,000 so you should have only paid tax on anything over that amount.

If you have any P60's or P45's these will help a lot also.

[seville]

Just to add what Trevormax has said ----All income includes any savings you may have such as post office accounts or bank accounts or tax dividend(ISAs and Tessas are exempt for tax purposes).
Watch you dont dont get 'time barred' so it your claim relates to tax year 2002/03 (6th April 2002 to 5th April 2003) get a move on because that year goes out of date on 5th April 2009.
Come back to this site if you get stuck
Also you could always make an appointment at your local tax office to see what info they have on record for you on thier computers--somtimes they make notes on your PAYE record of the PAY & Tax, benefits etc. They can always tell you what details they have and what you need to get hold of (saves you chasing around for info HMRC already have)
Also any problems --they have a complaints procedure so use it if you are not happy(also it makes them do things faster).
Finally before you submit anything --KEEP COPIES!!! I know post/claims get lost
Good Luck --any refund is better in your pocket than the governments. !!
Oh, dont forget to quote your National Insurance Number(NINO) (on your P45 or P60) if you have it as all HMRC data bases use the NINO to trace peoples records

[mcfadwmc]

thanks for the replies

i've got my first employer to send me copies of all the info i need with regards to pay and redundancy.

the second employer is trying to charge me to provide a statement of earning though as they say they'd have to look through archived records to get hold of the correct info. are they allowed to charge for it? Should i just Subject Access Request them for a tenner? would these details be covered by Data Protection Act....... wish i'd have kept my P45/60

I've found the correct tax office to send it to too.

What do i write?

dera mr taxman,
can i have the year 2002/03 assessed for a tax rebate?

or do i need to put in more details of why i feel i've paid the wrong tax

[seville]

Write

REPAYMENT CLAIM FOR 2002/03

Dear sir/madam

My ref???
My Nat Ins No: ???????/

I wish to claim a refund for the tax year 2002/03 (year ending 5th April 2003). My emplyment/unemplyment history for the perion 6th April 2002 to 5th April 2003 is as follow:
from date to date PAYE joe Bloggs
from date to date PAYE Mr X

Just list your employment history and any period of unemplyment telling them what sort of benefit you were receiving(unemplyment benefit is taxable

Then enclose your evidence eg P60/P45/old payslips(if you dont have P60), any other letters you may have such as letters from benefit offices/redundancy papersBUT KEEP COPIES!!!
As for awkward employer --the employer has to legally retain and maintain their business records for 6 years(that includes the wages records)
If they are playing silly b***ers then dont delay applying for your refund.
Write in your letter to the taxman that they are being difficult about providing your pay & tax details, give the taxman the full name/address of the company and if possible the name of a contact and tel number and they will write to the employer for you if you ask them to.If you know how much roughly you were paid gross per week /per month tell the taxman and tell them (from memory of course) if that employer deduceted tax even if you dont know how much. I would also tell that smart *ss employer that you are writing to HM Revenue & Customs telling them you are experiancing problems getting the dat off them and you will be asking HM Revenue & customs to contact them for the information.

I would say the employer can charge you whatever they want to dig through their records becasue they only have to legally supply you with a P60 and details of any benefits you may have had (eg company car). Once they have done that they have complied with their obligation under the PAYE rules & regs. It may be worth asking them how much they want.If its just a couple of £ then its worth it for potencially a speedy refund

I admit it will most probably take a little longer to get your refund(unless they can track the info down from the taxmans data base) but at least your application is in.
I strongly advice that you 1. KEEP COPIES OF WHAT YOU SEND IN
2. SEND IT RECORDED DELIVERY.
The taxmans policy is that they should contact your in 15 days even if they cannot deal with the refund by that time. Given that they most probably will have to write to the employer for info --expect a delay
If you havent had a repy say in 30 days, get in touch and ask for the present possition re your claim.
Any further delay then make a complaint--check HM Revenue & Customs web page for the complaints procedure
Good luck
I'm not expert but know the tax system quite well
Hope you get your refund soon

[mcfadwmc]

thanks for the reply seville.

i've got info back from my first employer.


it states that my total earnings and taxable pay are almost the same figure. As i got a redundancy payment within this total earning that shouldn't have been taxed i think i'll get a tidy sum back. Part of my redundancy overall payment was pay in leiu so i understand that that has tax, nat ins applied but the actual payment for being made redundant shouldn't be taxable should it? i'm sure i read that anything under 32k is not taxable.

just waiting on the info from the second employer now to get the full picture for the year

[seville]

Is it definately a redundancy pay out??
As I understand it the 'pay in leiu' is taxable in the normal way and usually the actual redundancy bit is not taxable but it does depend on the terms/contract so have a look at what the paperwork says.
Just check your paperwork --for exactly what it says to make sure it is not taxable income
As for calculating what tax/NI you should be paying you need to know your correct tax code and then go to the site below (there is a section there called the net salary calculator --or something like that). You then put in your gross pay (in your case -your total pay excluding the redundancy you were taxed on)--then enter your code number --the tax & Ni is then calculated (what you should have paid). You will then know what you should have paid. Then you can see what has been overpaid
www.ir35calc.co.uk/paye
Good luck and I hope you get the refund soon
Again I am warning you to keep copies, send it recorded delivery and dont leave it to the last minute cause I would hate the year to go out of date and you loose your refund becasue it is time bared