The UK IRS are demanding I pay back nearly £4K because they worked it out wrong. How can you get out of this?

Question

The UK IRS are demanding I pay back nearly £4K because they worked it out wrong. How can you get out of this?

Answer 1

I doubt you can.

You do actually owe this money and you should have paid it. Why should you get out if it?

It is always worth having a basic understanding of tax and doing some rough calculations of your own so you can monitor whether you are paying enough/too much tax anyway. It is irresponsible not to at least have an awareness (especially if you somehow paid £4k less than you should have!) If you are non-UK resident and were here for a short period it would have paid to find out what to expect in advance.

Speak to HMRC. It is likely you can work out a payment plan. £4k is a huge amount to have underpaid (it's like not being taxed on £20,000 of your salary!)- I imagine you must have earned a decent enough salary and should be able to pay it off reasonably quickly. If you are continuing to work in the UK they have automatic ways you can spread it over the next tax year (ie: through your tax code).

Answer 2

You probably can't, unless you can show them that to do so would cause you particular financial hardship.  If you think you can show that, go and talk to them.