There are various reasons why you may be due a tax refund as a PAYE employee. Here are some of them:
- You stopped work part way through the year
- You left the UK during the tax year
- You have been on an emergency tax code such as BR, Week 1, or Month 1
- Your tax code was incorrect
- You have multiple part-time jobs and have overpaid tax
Checking your tax code is correct can ensure that you do not underpay or overpay tax. You can find out more about PAYE tax codes here.
If you think you have overpaid tax you may need to contact HMRC to request a refund. Usually, HMRC will automatically process refunds during the tax year-end reconciliation process but this can take several months and if you have left the UK you will need to tell them. HMRC will issue a PAYE tax calculation form and send you a refund – without you needing to do anything.
You have four years to claim refunds of overpaid tax. After four years from the end of the tax year, your claim for a refund becomes out of time and HMRC will not process it. In exceptional cases, if the error is not disputed and was made by HMRC, you may ask for this time limit to be disregarded under Extra Statutory Concession B41.
If you want to know if you are due a refund, and your circumstances are reasonably simple, then you can use the HMRC tax checker at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/calcs/stc.htm.
Claiming a refund when you stop work’ https://www.gov.uk/claim-tax-refund/youve-stopped-work
Income tax when leaving the UK https://www.gov.uk/tax-right-retire-abroad-return-to-uk
