Maybe if you explain to the nasty tax man that you don't require any protection from the police, have never taken advantage of public education, or been to see a GP and that you have never been in hospital... maybe he'll give you your £53 back.

That sounds like basic rate, as you're on so little it may be worth checking to see if you should actually be paying basic rate.

As for tax as a whole, yeah it's a lot, but don't forget NI which adds another 11% or so grrr...

As Callum says, it sounds like you're paying basic rate tax. Check the tax code on your payslip, assuming you only have the one job and don't have any other sources of income it should be 461L which takes account of your personal tax-free allowance for the year.

If it's anything else, especially if it's BR, and you aren't working two jobs, it's probably wrong. Did you have a P45 when you started the job? If not, you should have been given a form P46 to sign, where you can declare if a job is your main source of income.

If there's a problem with your tax code, you need to speak to whoever is responsible for the payroll issues at your work, and once your code is sorted out you should get a nice tax refund On your level of income you shouldn't be paying very much tax or NI at all.

Hope this helps - let me know if you have any more problems, I do payroll as part of my job so I know a fair bit about this.

White heart -Thanks Its BR I think. Not supposed to be though. My supervisor said maybe my new tax form for this year didn't go through in time and it will get sorted in my next pay

Since I'm a) 17 b) a student and c) make £3.28 an hour I'm thinking £53 is slightly excessive. Not being funny but when you make buttons and they take such a big chunk out of it, it IS a big deal. It means I'm going to barely get through this month again, if I was on a better wage I wouldn't mind so much!




(Edited by Eve 05/05/2003 20:10)

£244 a month? That's less than £3k a year. Haven't checked in a while, and I'm sure White Hart knows the actual figure, but I'm sure that is below the tax threshold. There is a certain amount of money we all earn which isn't taxed. About £3.5k, if I remember rightly. It's also part of the tax code I think. Anyway, this amount is not taxed on anyone's wage, so if your total yearly income is below this you shouldn't pay anything. Even NI requires you to be earning over £300 a month before you start to pay.

Basicly, unless you earn a lot more than £244 a month usually then you are clearly in the wrong tax code. You need to get that changed and apply for a refund. I believe you need to have copies of your last three wage slips to do this, but again, White Hart would be the best one to advise you there.

Hmmmm...when you say 'new tax form', is this the 'I am a full-time student at x institution' declaration? Because that could be where the problem lies. That form is only for students working during their holidays. The point of it is that a student could work full-time for eight weeks, on a salary that would easily be taxable on a pro-rated basis, and the form allows them to declare that they are only working in their holidays and will not actually go over the tax threshold. Because of this, the exemption has to be renewed each year. If you simply have a part-time job all year round you need to have your personal allowance applied to it in the normal way. From what you say, this should more than cover what you earn anyway, and it wouldn't reset itself every April.

I would speak to your payroll department. With the best will in the world, your supervisor probably doesn't know an awful lot about the tax system. If you don't have any joy there, ring your tax office. They're normally very nice people, and if your work are being sluggish at sorting out the paperwork they can bypass all that by sending a new tax code straight through for you.

The Inland Revenue official advice about students and tax is here if you want to take a look. Good luck with it, and just look forward to next payday, when you should have £53 extra in your wages!

(Edited by White Hart 05/05/2003 05:19)

That's what you get for not paying attention. £244 a month, not a week then... oops.

£4,615 is the personal allowance everyone receives before having to pay tax.

It is also the NI threshold.

New employees are often put on what is called an emergency code while their actual tax position is calculated and as a result they are deducting as if you were a tax payer.

I'd think your employer should be able to give you the deduction themselves once you demonstrate you are not a tax payer which will be better than waiting for the Inland Revenue to get round to it.

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by Incandenza
That's what you get for not paying attention.

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Silly Billy

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by Teresa
(quotes)

Silly Billy

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Welcome back sweetness.

Thanks for all the advice , I found an old pay slip and it said the tax code was *goes to re-find the pay slip * 0461L. The form was just what all the students had to fill in for the new tax year. I'll go see personnel lady tomorrow before my shift and ask her who I need to see.
Ah well my mums said she'll lend me anything extra I need this month, I've just discovered that they've increased my pay to a whopping £3.70 an hour!! Ooooh I'll be rich now!!!!