It's Your Fault!

Article ContentIf the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system is working properly it will take care of the vast majority of "employed" taxpayers, whose personal tax affairs are straightforward. But note the if! The Inland Revenue work out your PAYE code from the information available to them, which may be incomplete or out of date and they do not always do it correctly.
If the code issued is wrong, for whatever reason, you will pay the wrong amount of tax - this is your fault!

The consequence of an underpayment is, at best, your code being altered to catch up. At worst you could receive a large demand, which is payable immediately together with interest and penalties.

The consequence of an overpayment, if you do nothing about it, is that you are out of pocket.

In neither case is "the tax office got it wrong" a valid defence: it's your fault!

The moral of all this is that you must check your PAYE coding notice as soon as you get it. If you have any doubt about its accuracy - do something!

You can ask the Inland Revenue to check it for you, or you can have it checked by our friendly experts, at surprisingly reasonable cost!
The law says that, as a taxpayer, it is your responsibility to pay the right amount of tax, at the right time, not the Inland Revenue's to extract the right amount from you.
The only certain way to ensure that this happens is to submit a Tax Return or an Income Tax Repayment Claim but for most people this is using a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

You can contact Les Styles on 01925 761600.