PAYE question

When it's paid or due to be paid, whichever is earlier. Think this is to get round requesting late payment for tax reasons.

So why then is it OK to request early payment for tax reasons?

year..?

actually

Dunno, guess the payer is less likely to go along with early payment than late payment.

Could the employer be "bribed" to pay you early? There would be no need for him actually to be out of pocket:

You could "lend" him some money, and he would use this to "officially" pay you early. Then he could "repay the loan" at the time he would normally have paid you.

:-)

That's interesting.

In my very first proper job I worked one week in March. Under normal circumstances I should have been paid at the end of March but because they couldn't get everything set up quickly enough I actually got the money at the end of April with my April money. I hadn't earned enough in the earlier tax year to pay any tax at all but I got taxed on that extra payment.

I complained to no avail. But I also asked the tax office who said that because the money had been paid at the end of April it fell into that tax year.

Tim.

actually

because

enough

You should have referred them to their own notes in the tax return which clearly states (and always has AFAIK) re employment income:

"You will be treated as if you received this income on the earlier of:

the date when the payment, or payment on account, was made, or

the date you became entitled to be paid."

I think the underlying problem was that my employer got it wrong. Although they paid me the March money in April, I should have got a P60 for the previous year with that money on it.

Instead, they just added it onto the April pay.

As it was a very small company I suspect they just weren't up to handling corner cases like this.

I can't remember for certain but it might even have been that they didn't pay me for the week in March at all until I chased it, and I was paid it in May. I'm almost certain that I won't have the old payslips any more to check (it's just possible they're up in the loft somewhere but I doubt it)

I went into the tax office to reclaim tax on interest paid in the previous year and I specifically brought this one weeks money to their attention but they were adamant that as it was paid in the following tax year I had to pay tax on it in that tax year.

If something like it happens again I'll know what to show to them to correct them. The tax system does seem a bit perverse. Now I have enough money, assets, and income that I can adjust my affairs to some extent and avoid having to pay hundreds or even thousands of pounds of tax perfectly legally but without it making a measurable difference to my standard of living. When I was completely skint straight out of university I was unable to get back the 30 or 40 pounds that really would have made a difference and certainly I was in no position to pay someone for a professional opinion on my tax position.

Tim.