Underpayment being taxed 143.48

[joes1995]

My partner has just started employment after being out of work since dec, he owes tax.
£6029
They are taking 143.4% of tax out of his wages.
Is there anything we can do to reduce payments?

[robbob]

They are taking 143.4% of tax out of his wages.

How is that possible? is that a typo?

[bd6759]

They are taking 143.4% of tax out of his wages.

How is that possible? is that a typo?

Probably. Title says 143.48. The “%” is normally above the 8.

The question is bereft of detail, but the answer will usually be to contact HMRC. Maybe ask them to spread the collection over the next year.

[someone]

143.48 is suspiciously close to 1/104 of 15000 (and even closer if you assume it's 50% of one weeks pay calculated daily in a leap year)

You don't say how much your partner is earning but I thought there was an upper limit to how much back tax would be collected such that you always keep 50% of your income.

I don't know if there are other limits and I don't know if the 50% limit includes NI.

If your partner was self employed and the 6029 was the tax due on Jan 31 2020 then it's likely it included a payment on account that is no longer needed. I'd hope that HMRC had already sorted that out but if your partner hasn't talked to them at all then they presumably won't know to adjust their calculation.

If HMRC doesn't know your partner is no longer self employed he may also be being taxed too much in his new job.

If he usually does a tax return and hasn't yet for the 19-20 tax year then it might be worth doing that now rather than putting it off until January.