Tax - refund?

Question

So i left college last year and went into full-time employment, i earn between £700-800 a month. I heard from a friend yesterday that you dont get taxed on the first £5000 you earn and because ive been getting taxed since i started (around 9 months ago) i can claim that tax back, is that true?

Answer 1

The tax year in the UK goes from 6th April to 5th April. So from the time you started work until the 5th April you may be entitled to a refund, as you probably have a backlog of unused tax allowances. Send form P60 to tax office with request for repayment, but make sure the staff know what you were doing, like not earning, full time education, if you were not earning prior to starting your current job, from the previous 6th April.

If your code number is the normal one of 543L, since April 6th you can earn £453 a month  (£5435 in a year) before you have to pay tax. The PAYE system is structured so that you pay an equal amount of tax each month if your earnings stay constant. You get the same amount of free pay per month. You do not get £5435 tax-free in the first few months, and then pay tax on everything towards the end of the tax year.

Answer 2

It's only partly true.

You get a personal allowance of £5400 and after that pay tax at 20%.

However the tax office average your salary over the year. So you don't get a rebate, sorry.