Remember there was that fuss earlier in the year about the Inland Revenue making some sort of mistake, and lots of people were going to be sent letters demanding extra payments, or giving a refund?
Well I got a letter from HMRC yesterday, so I opened it hoping it was going to be a refund, but suspecting that it was probably going to be asking for money. My suspicions proved to be correct, but the amount was a bit of a shock - £2815! Given I just pay tax through PAYE ie. everything should be done automatically, something had to be wrong, so I rang the tax office. Ah they said, that would be your second job. Eh? I said. (Looking again at their figures, I can see that I'm supposed to have earned over £20k more than I actually did.)
Unfortunately they wouldn't tell me the name of the other company I'm supposed to have been working for over the phone, but they're going to write to me, and I've got to let them know if I think something's wrong.
Has this happened to anyone else? Has someone just got their NI number wrong, or is something more naughty going on?
Last edited by: Focus on Sat 30 Oct 10 at 21:22
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I only work for one employer, Her Majesty's Gov. No back demands but then I've never taken the time to sit down with tables etc and check my P60 is correct.
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>> I only work for one employer
So do I! So why do HMRC think I worked for 2? (2008-9)
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Calm down dear! It's only your money. ;>)
On a more serious note, I've found HMRC surprisingly pleasant to deal with. I had a problem with a tax claim and dealt with it as per instructions. When I hadn't a reply within the advised time-scale I simply 'phoned them and was put through to a supervisor, who told me I was perfectly entitled to query it and it had taken longer than acceptable. It was dealt with within the following week.
Be polite, they're human like you (I presume) and you may be pleasantly surprised!
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>> Be polite, they're human like you (I presume) and you may be pleasantly surprised!
Don't worry, I was pretty relaxed when I spoke to the HMRC chap yesterday.
Just looking forward to finding out a bit more about what's been going on. Such as, did this mysterious 2nd job start/stop within the tax year, or did it spread either side? If the latter then perhaps they might owe me some money...
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Focus,
Are you sure you've not been working at a second job?
I mean, you don't seem to have been posting quite so much lately.
Could be an extended senior moment. :)
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>> Are you sure you've not been working at a second job?
>>
>> I mean, you don't seem to have been posting quite so much lately.
>>
>> Could be an extended senior moment. :)
I can believe forgetting I had a second job, but not that I didn't notice having an extra £20k+ to spend :)
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A couple of years ago I got a letter querying my former employers and saying they were looking at how much I had earned with a local council as they had no note of any in the last
2 /3 years. They re-issued a PAYE code number to the local council etc.
I had worked for 2 weeks in October 2006 as a supply teacher and on being 60 - I retired and drew a pension from former employers and have not done anything since.
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Good Morning all! My experience of dealing with the Revenue is very positive. The phones are answered quickly and one is spoken to in English by some one whose first language is English. A short security check and they seem to have all one's info and tax returns on the screen and my relatively simple queries have been resolved.
From what I read my position regarding over/undercharging could have been quite serious as I have an income from work and 5 pension or annuity payments. So far I have had 2 refunds! One following the assesment or my tax return and another in the first batch of "Adjustment" letters. I am keeping my head down and hoping for the best!
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My last tax query was resolved with one phone call.
30 seconds ring, 30 seconds hold, three minutes with an English guy who sounded about the same age as me, problem resolved.
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I too had a pleasant surprise when i phoned the tax office, easy to deal with, soon sorted my incorrect tax code and gave me some advice about claiming for my vocational medical and job expenses when the time arrives.
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My own dealings with the IR have been extremely positive. I find that most queries can be resolved via their various on-line publications, or failing that, a quick call to their help centre.
I've also received some excellent advice from a fellow car4 poster, too.
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>> My last tax query was resolved with one phone call.
>> 30 seconds ring, 30 seconds hold, three minutes with an English guy who sounded about
>> the same age as me, problem resolved.
Memo to George Osbourne:
Tax offices massively overstaffed then and due for some major cuts
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Yes I've had that second job lark. I was on over £120k pa according to them! I wish. And me, a poor old pensioner :-) Still, the tax refund was nice when they got the code right.
John
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>> My last tax query was resolved with one phone call.
>> 30 seconds ring, 30 seconds hold, three minutes with an English guy who sounded about
>> the same age as me, problem resolved.
You're fortunate.
I've lost count of the time i've spent being bounced between three different tax offices, because none of them would or could take charge of the whole issue: previous employer in one tax area, their pension managed in another tax area, new job managed in yet another tax area.
Yes, the HMRC staff are pleasant enough if treated like human beings, but it's taken 18 months to get things near how I think they should be now.
Their last offerings were two notices of coding, with no explanation of how they were arrived at - "send us a letter if you want to know". I did, over two months ago: no reply yet.
IMHO their new system is a shambles.
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Until this year I filled in a tax return every year to enable HMRC to check that I had had the right amount of tax deducted by my pension provider. They must have got bored with having to make minor adjustments every year so this year they sent me a letter saying that they would no longer be sending me a tax return. I assume that any discrepancy will now be carried over to the following year. They needn't worry ~ I'll do my own check! It's only simple arithmetric.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Mon 1 Nov 10 at 07:51
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In trying to get hold of a company's tax inspector, I rang the processing office in Cardiff. After an hour of constant dialing I got through to a human being who told me to call the deducated inspector and gave me a new name and address (company had a new inspector). Abandoning the idea of writing, I called back in order to get the telephone number. After an hour, I gave up, and used the internet to try to find a telephone number attached to the address. After quite some time (another hour or so) I tracked down a live person who told me that the company didn't have a new inspector and I could have used the telephone number I had previously....
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Mystery solved, unfortunately. Letter from HMRC came this morning, giving the company name as Thales. They took over Racal, who I worked for for over 11 years.
No, it wasn't a senior moment - I did stop working for them in the 90s, but a few years ago they gave me the option to come out of their final salary pension scheme. I took it, ending up with a nice lump sum* - it's that which the tax demand relates to.
We're still going to check the paperwork because we weren't expecting it, but at least it makes sense.
* The replacement scheme isn't as good, but as SWMBO says, there's no point having lots of money to spend in your old age if you're not fit/well enough to enjoy it; make the most of it while you can.
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>> there's no point having
>> lots of money to spend in your old age if you're not fit/well enough to
>> enjoy it; make the most of it while you can.
>>
There's only one thing worse than not being fit enough to enjoy your wealth, and that's watching the government enjoy your wealth for you.
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>> No, it wasn't a senior moment - I did stop working for them in the
>> 90s, but a few years ago they gave me the option to come out of
>> their final salary pension scheme. I took it, ending up with a nice lump sum*
>> - it's that which the tax demand relates to.
>>
>> We're still going to check the paperwork because we weren't expecting it, but at least
>> it makes sense.
>>
I'd check carefully how long ago their claim relates to - it's my understanding that there are limits...
tinyurl.com/33l9fek
much less than 10 years judging by yesterday's Terrorflag.
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AFAIK, pension lump sums are tax free.
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>> AFAIK, pension lump sums are tax free.
That's what we're hoping - certainly SWMBO who has a better memory than me, and is a lot more switched on financially, thought that's what we had been told.
When you say 'pension lump sum', that's not just what you get when you stop working?
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No, its not. There is no concept of "not working" before the age 65. (currently)
I converted 25% of my DC pension into a lump sum, paid tax free.
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Just found another of my final salary pensions which we were bribed out of more recently. The paperwork shows the cash sum/bribe, then subtracts basic rate tax and NI. The remainder is what we received.
What it doesn't mention is what happens if you're a higher rate earner - I think that's the bit that we haven't yet paid on the other sum and only now have got the demand for. Presumably we've got the same thing to look forward to on the more recent amount, although thankfully it's a lot smaller.
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>> much less than 10 years judging by yesterday's Terrorflag.
The demand relates to a lump sum I took only a couple of years ago (tax year 2008-9).
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>> The demand relates to a lump sum I took only a couple of years ago (tax year 2008-9).
If it is up to 25% of the fund taken at the point of drawing the pension, they are wrong to ask (as Zero says).
Here's a guide to the rules:
tinyurl.com/39e67yd
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>> If it is up to 25% of the fund taken at the point of drawing
>> the pension, they are wrong to ask (as Zero says).
>>
>> Here's a guide to the rules:
>>
>> tinyurl.com/39e67yd
Sorry John, just seen this - I'll have a look...
EDIT: ...although this isn't a maturing pension, as I said above it's basically a 'bribe' to change to a cheaper (for them) scheme, which we took.
Last edited by: Focus on Mon 8 Nov 10 at 21:08
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>> EDIT: ...although this isn't a maturing pension, as I said above it's basically a 'bribe'
>> to change to a cheaper (for them) scheme, which we took.
I am not tax expert, but...
It's my understanding that with a pension the idea is you pay no tax on contributions, but pay tax on taking money out.
AFAIK the only exception is the (up to) 25% of the fund taken as tax free cash _ at the point of starting to draw the pension _.
You may well have tax to pay.
Was there no advice at the time about the inplications of what the Company was playing at?
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I thought the time a lump sum from a pension could be taken tax free was when you were about to draw on your pension so to speak. Otherwise this would be a way people could have savings and not pay tax.
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>> I thought the time a lump sum from a pension could be taken tax free
>> was when you were about to draw on your pension so to speak. Otherwise this
>> would be a way people could have savings and not pay tax.
>>
HMRC puts limits on the size of pension contributions, pensions, and lump sums.
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>> You may well have tax to pay.
>>
>> Was there no advice at the time about the inplications of what the Company was
>> playing at?
Rang HMRC again earlier today to confirm that the missing tax was indeed the difference between normal and higher rate tax on the transfer incentive lump sum.
Haven't checked the paperwork for that transfer - not sure we still have it to be honest - but on the paperwork for the more recent (smaller) transfer it only mentions basic rate tax. Should have known there was more to come - we might have done at the time, but just forgot about it.
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A general point to add to this thread:
The usual e-mail from Martin's Moneytips arrived in my inbox a short while ago. The site claims to have developed a tool for checking whether your tax code is correct or not, and hence whether you owe or are owed anything:
tinyurl.com/38z8rtg
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>> the missing tax was indeed the difference between normal and higher rate tax on the transfer incentive lump sum.
If you were a high rate tax payer that year - either salary, or pushed into the band by the lump sum... the tax man is probably right.
The only hope is that they were correctly given all the information at the time.
If so, it might be worth a look at the guide in the Terrorflag.
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Unpaid tax - Bromptonaut
