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LITRG’s guide to HMRC’s forthcoming tax repayment letters advises you to make sure yours is right (neither too much nor too little) and check whether you can claim anything else.

Background

HMRC say that between 1.7 and 3.5 million people will get a letter (technically known as a ‘P800’) over the summer informing them they are due a tax refund for the 2010/11 tax year. The letters start going out in mid-July. A further 1.2 million people will receive a letter telling them they owe tax for that year. These letters will not start going out until September.

Taxpayers receiving letters from HMRC need to check their calculations carefully – even if the letter says they are getting a refund. The calculation will only be as good as the data held on HMRC’s computer.

You must contact HMRC if your refund is too big, as well as if it is too small. If HMRC repay you too much and you don’t tell them, you could be charged a penalty if they think you were careless in not spotting it.

LITRG’s guide to PAYE tax repayments

LITRG’s guide is available from the Group’s website.

The guide includes:

• An explanation of who will be getting letters from HMRC
• Guidance on how to check if HMRC’s calculations are accurate
• Information on what to do if you think the calculation is wrong or incomplete, or you do not understand it
• Information about how to claim money owed from previous tax years
• Examples of the letters taxpayers could write in response to receipt of a tax calculation