What is a P800?

A P800 tax calculation is the form that is sent to you from HMRC to let you know you have paid too much, or too little tax.

A P800 takes into account your total income, the total amount of tax you have paid, tax free personal allowance and any tax-deductible expenses incurred from the tax year in question.

How do I work how much my refund was from my P800?

If you claim a tax rebate, for example on the cost of washing your work uniform, you will receive a tax calculation on your P800 for every backdated tax year.

However, this can cause some confusion, because the tax shown on these calculations is cumulative. The actual gross amount of rebate you are owed is shown on the second page of the final calculation.

Example

If you are owed £50 for uniform and tools tax rebate backdated 4 years the calculation will be shown as:

2014/15 – You are owed £50

2015/16- You are owed £100 (£50 from this year + £50 for the previous year)

2016/17 – You are owed £150 (£50 from this year + £100 for the previous year)

2017/18 – You are owed £200 (£50 from this year + £150 for the previous year)

So, the total amount you are owed in this example is £200, NOT the total of £500 that you would get if you add all of the years up individually (£50+£100+£150+£200).

HMRC present this in a confusing way but you should think of each calculation like a bank statement for that year. The amount you would have in the bank would be the figure at the bottom of the most recent statement not your last 4 statement balances added up!

If you are still unsure how much HMRC paid out from your tax refund you can call them directly on 0300 200 3300 and ask.

How is P800 tax calculated?

To work out how much tax you should pay, HMRC calculates your total income minus your tax-free personal income.

Tax is then paid on the remaining money you have earned (your taxable income) minus the tax-deductible expenses you have.

Equation

Income – Tax free personal income = Taxable income

Tax is paid as a % of your taxable income – tax deductible expenses.

Example

£28,000 income - £11,859 tax free personal income = £16,141 taxable income

£16,141 taxable income generates £5577 (£3,228 income tax and £2,349 in National Insurance).

Any tax-deductible expenses you have will be taken off this £5577.

What do I have to do?

 

If you receive a P800 you shouldn’t have to do anything. HMRC will pay out your refund or collect any underpaid tax automatically.

If you’re owed money

If your P800 shows that you are due a rebate HMRC will usually send this out to you or your nominee within 3 weeks.

If you owe money

Generally, if you owe money HMRC will distribute the owed tax over the course of the next year automatically. If they can’t do this, they will contact you.

Your P800 will tell you if you can pay any owed tax online, or you can pay by cheque by filling in the pay-in slip on your P800.

If I owe HMRC money what can I do?

If your P800 says you owe HMRC money the first thing you should do is check the detail of your P800 calculation to see if it is correct.

Why would my P800 be wrong?

There are many potential reasons that a p800 tax form may show the wrong amount of tax, some common examples are listed below:

• Human error in tax calculations
• Error in the finance department of your company
• Tax relief not claimed
• Tax code misrepresented (this can sometimes lead to emergency tax payment, resulting in you being taxed a lot more than necessary!).

After you receive your P800 if you think there is a mistake you should contact HMRC on 0300 200 3300 and ask them about it.

If I owe the money do I have to pay?

Even if you owe HMRC money back it’s still possible to get underpaid tax written off under something called an ‘extra-statutory concession’ or (‘ESC A19’).

You can ask for an ESC A19 if all of the following apply:

• HMRC haven’t used information provided to them about your job and earnings
• HMRC didn’t tell you that you owed some or all of the tax until more than 12 months after the tax year it’s owed for
• You believed that your tax was up to date

HMRC is provided with most of the information to calculate your tax by your employer or the DWP so if you are being asked to repay tax from older tax years it’s worth applying  for ESCA19 if it’s the first time HMRC have contacted you about it.

How to claim a rebate not shown on your P800

Not all tax-deductible expenses are applied automatically to your P800. If you think that you are due a tax rebate, but it isn’t shown you need to contact HMRC to claim the money back yourself. A good example of this is uniform tax rebate, which isn’t automatically filed for many professions, but can be claimed.

Why would my P800 be wrong?

There are many potential reasons that a p800 tax form may show the wrong amount of tax, some common examples are listed below:

• Human error in tax calculations
• Error in the finance department of your company
• Tax relief not claimed
• Tax code misrepresented (this can sometimes lead to emergency tax payment, resulting in you being taxed a lot more than necessary!).