Tax refunds - money back from the govt!

[BaggiesFans]

Something I just realised ( should have done earlier given I'm an accountant but never mind!):

If you are leaving the UK in April/ May /June, depending on your salary you will most likely be entitled to reclaim the PAYE tax you have paid from April 2008 onwards. The reason I say this is that you will have been paying PAYE in the months of April/ May / June as a % of full year tax due. If you leave in the first couple of months of the year you may well not have earned the full £5400 personal allowance in which case you can claim back all tax you have paid! Even if its more than thsi you will probably be able to calim back something.

In tersm of how you go about doing this I don't know yet - I'm going to look into it. There are company's out there that will do it for you but charge 10% commission - I'm sure that this is unnecessary and we can do it ourselves - I will keep you all posted when I find out.

[BaggiesFans]

Further digging reveals its a very simple process - notes from HMRC website:

What should I do if I leave my job?
It is important to get a form P45 from your employer. If you don't go to another job and don't start claiming unemployment benefit, you may be entitled to a tax repayment. After a month, ask for a repayment claim form P50 which you should complete and return to your Tax Office with your P45 Parts 2 and 3 if you have them. We give repayment claims top priority and try to make sure you get any refund you are due within 28 days.

So just download the P50 form from their website and sent it off with your P45 ( which will also have your tax office deatils on) and you may well get a nice amount back into your bank account.

[dusk]

so not a lot of point claiming if you're not leaving until October then?

[Alan]

I think this is what you are after and basically I believe you can claim back all the tax you have paid in the year you are leaving http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensioners/taxwhenleaving.htm

[BaggiesFans]

so not a lot of point claiming if you're not leaving until October then?

You probably won't get all your tax back but unless you are a very high earner ( i.e your income from April to October is over the top band £40k) you will probably get something back.

[CJ22]

This is, I believe, what one of the shipping companies offer to do as a service (for a commision). But I suspect it's easy to do yourself. Everybody should do it. The guy we spoke to said that if you were leaving around 6 months after the start of the tax year, that was the BEST time to do it, though I forget what his reasoning was. Perhaps it was because you have been paying tax based on a full year's earnings that you haven't (or won't earn). Anyway, I suspect it's worth everybody doing, so it'll be interesting to know how you get on.

[Alan]

I know someone who's done it and it took quite few months of badgering the Inland Revenue to get a cheque out of them.

[IanW99]

...
So just download the P50 form from their website and sent it off with your P45 ( which will also have your tax office deatils on) and you may well get a nice amount back into your bank account.

Are you sure that P50 is the correct form? I was under the impression that you should fill in P85

See more details here

Ian

[CJ22]

I downloaded P85 also, though I haven't looked at it yet.

[Familyofmonkeys]

OH claimed tax back...very easy and straightforward to sort out forms. There was a 2-3 month delay with processing the paperwork at tax office though. We just got them to pay money bak direct into UK bank account we had left open.