Tax back

A situation might occur when you end up paying too much tax on account of changing the job or if you have more than one work at the same time. In case, such a circumstance crops up then few simple steps need to be followed in order to apply for a tax refund or a tax back. Here is a brief overview on it to help you to take the necessary steps.

PAYE and Tax Code:

The employer deducts certain amount of tax before you get the actual payment. This is a form of paying tax and is known as PAYE. The Tax Office issues a tax code on the basis of the information held by them about your income and entitlement to allowances. You must know the tax code as it helps you to check that whether you are paying the right amount of tax or not.

Reclaiming the PAYE Overpayments for the Year:

Consult the Tax office to know what exactly needs to be done. This will give you the idea that what really needs to be done.  You might receive a new tax code so that the refund gets added up to your wage or salary.

When a Tax Refund is Due:

A tax year continues through April 6 of the previous month to April 5 of the next month. In case one stops working halfway through the tax year then it might happen that you end up paying too much tax over the tax year. This is the consequence you will come across if you are an employee and paying the tax through PAYE, The situations are like these,

• If you are employed partly during the tax year and haven’t received any tax benefit for the rest of the year after you are over with your job.
• You have retired part way during the tax year.
• You are student and is doing a summer job without bothering to fill up a P38 (S) form meant for Student Employees.
• You have been laid off and could not find a suitable job.

If you are self employed, in order to get the tax refund, it is required to make the ‘payments on account’ for the tax bill of next year. In case you have already made the payment on account for the current year’s tax, then you might have paid extra tax than what is required.

Correcting a Mistake in the Tax Return

In order to rectify any mistake made in the tax return, one has 12 months in hand from January 31 till the year-end. This correction is referred as an amendment in tax terminology.
No form as such is required to be filled up but it is all right to write to the tax office mentioning the amendments and quoting the page and box numbers in the return. If it is already more than 12 months then it is surely very late to amend your return. In this case, you have to write HMRC and need to make acclaim instead.

Getting a Tax Refund

In order to get the tax refund at your convenience you can have it deducted from any tax, which is due during the next assessment year. There are certain conditions guarding it and they are,

• If the tax is < £10.
• If the tax payment is due shortly.