Claim your tax back

[Paul and Linda]

To all those employed by "The Man" don't forget to claim back your tax once you stop working . Some people may not realise that you can do this but having been in and out of work whilst at university I have claimed tax back several times :cool .

Basically if you have worked say april til june and then stop work (to leave the country, to start full time study, or have a baby etc.) then due to the tax free limit we all have, there will almost definately be some tax to claim back . You just write to your local tax office (see your P60 for the address) and explain your circumstances. You do this once you have stopped work.

Apologies if I am preaching to the converted ops: but I only remembered this nice little earner myself as I woke up this morning....god only knows what I was dreaming about!

Perhaps some accountants on the forum could reiterate this issue more succinctly for all those who may have originally known what to do and whom I have subsequently confused!!!!! :mrgreen:

[adamsat]

I called the tax office the other day about this and have just received the relevant form through the post. If anyone is interested the form(s) can be found online at

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/p85_p85s.htm

They do ask for your P45 so as Paul and Linda say you need to have left work before sending them in.

[robothamma]

Can anyone shed some light on what to do if you are self employed?

Cheers
Michelle

[jan]

Sorry Michelle can't help you on that one. Hubby just got tax back from 3 years though and we got £3000.00

[Moorf]

If you are self-employed ( I assume you are Schedule D?) you simply fill in your tax returns as usual and that will determine your tax as you will be paying tax as you go.... as I said, I'm a bit of a divvy when it comes to tax etc so I'll get Woz expand if you want....

[Woz]

As self employed you do not pay tax through the year but file your returns at the end of a financial year, Grade 2 & 4 NIC excluded, and then settle with the tax man.

If you are self employed for any part of a financial year you will have to wait until the next year start, April 5th, and then file your return as you normally would. Your tax will be calculated on your return. It does not matter if you left you country part way through the year you will still have to wait to file.

As a side note the reason you get cash back when you pay PAYE is that you are taxed through the year on the assumption that you will earn the same or similar every week/month through the year. So if you stop earning part way through the year your tax paid will not have included your full tax free entitlemeent and hence this is what you can claim back. In all reality this wwill normally be in the couple of hundred £ at most but still worth claiming.

Also the rules have changed recently so you can only claim no-residency for tax from April 5th to April 5th and not just any date range that covered a year as you could before.

As always contact your accountant as they will help you file your return in the best way possible. Also make sure you find an accountant you trust and that is happy to deal with you from the other side of the world if you will be in NZ when it come to time to file..

[robothamma]

Hmmm, Thanks for that! So it looks like we can't tie up those loose ends until next April! : Not to worry, I suppose it's one less thing to get done in the last rush it's not like I won't have other things to sort out is it? :eek

[Nic in NZ]

thanks for the link.
i knew about (my brother-in-law, Markyspark, told me)but i hadnt looked into but now i have printed off the form and am going to post it to them next week

nicola

[Paul]

For those self employed people - check with your accountants to ensure you are not overpaying on your payments on account if you are leaving the country in the 2005/06 tax year i.e get your tax return done ASAP for 5/4/2005 and then reduce your second payment on account in July 05 to take account of the full tax bill for 04/05. You can then sort out final tax for 05/06 in Jan and Jul 06 payments (or sooner if you contact your local tax office and explain you are emigrating and sign a p85)

Good luck!

[Sarah & Alex]

I was wondering whether I could claim my tax back or not ... This has just answered the question!!!

Now I just need to get the form!