Unpaid taxes after leaving the UK

Question

Hi! I had been working in the UK for 5 years when I left the country to work abroad indefinitely. I did claim a tax return but instead I have a tax debt of 1.500 pounds from what I think is a wrong tax code, but they didn´t give me any explanations. I don´t know what to do next and if I pay, am I entitled to a refund because I´m not working there any more? Please I´d appreciate if you could give me some advice.

Thank you.

Answer 1

You are not necessarily entitled to a repayment just because you left the UK. It's only if you have overpaid your tax in the year of departure, which comes from not working the whole year. If you owe tax under PAYE then you have obviously been on the wrong tax code, and not enough tax was deducted from you at source.

I would suggest you contact your HMRC office and ask them to tell you why it has resulted in an underpayment and from which year.  

Answer 2

You do not state your nationality, or your residency status. Some foreigners are not entitled to British Tax Allowances.

Did you complete forms P86 when entering UK, and form P85 when leaving? If not, you can download from hmrc/p86 and hmrc/p85. You should complete, and send to tax office.

I assume tax office will have sent you computations if you are underpaid. There should be an explanation in the notes section. Failing that would need to know figures shown. Or potential underpayments would be shown on notices of coding.

If you are an UK National who started work 5 years ago, I would also need to know what code numbers employer used. You will still need to do form P85. Tax Returns will not be of any use in your case.