Claiming refunds for the current tax year
Tell your Tax Office why you think you have paid too much. You may need to send in more information to support your claim and if so your tax office will let you know what paperwork you should supply.
Once they process your claim it might be necessary to issue you with a new tax code, meaning any refund will be added to your wages or pension and the amount will generally be paid automatically through your employer’s payroll.
However if the repayment is due towards the end of the tax year and you have already received your final pay for that year, you may have to claim a refund directly from your tax office (see the next section)
Claiming refunds for previous tax years
You will need to write to your Tax Office to get any refund due. You should include any paperwork about your earnings in the tax year you are claiming for, like:
- pay slips
- forms P60 and P45
- details of your employment - including any employee benefits you got
- details of your pension
HMRC will work out how much tax you are owed and send you a repayment in the post or by bank transfer.
In most cases you can get back the tax you have overpaid as long as you claim on time. The time limits for claiming a refund are shown in the table below. If you fail to make a claim within the time limit you will miss out on any refund due.
Time limits for claiming back tax
Tax year 2005/06 (year ended 05 April 2006) - you must claim by 31 January 2012
Tax year 2006/07 (year ended 05 April 2007) - you must claim by 31 March 2012
Tax year 2007/08 (year ended 05 April 2008) - you must claim by 05 April 2012
Tax year 2008/09 (year ended 05 April 2009) - you must claim by 05 April 2013
Tax year 2009/10 (year ended 05 April 2010) - you must claim by 05 April 2014
Tax year 2010/11 (year ended 05 April 2011) - you must claim by 05 April 2015
Extra statutory concession B41
This concession is valuable for situations where circumstances arise where HMRC or another government department has made an error in your tax affairs and where there is no doubt about the facts of the case. The relevant part of the concession reads as follows:
....However, repayments of tax will be made in respect of claims made outside the statutory time limit where an over-payment of tax has arisen because of an error by HMRC or another Government Department, and where there is no dispute or doubt as to the facts.....
We have produced some example letters you can use to write to HMRC regarding your own tax repayment.
Useful links
Reclaiming tax if you've overpaid through your job
Reclaiming tax on purchased life annuity income
Claiming a tax refund when you stop work
