We have seen evidence to indicate that more than 50% of taxpayers in the teaching profession have been given the wrong tax code by HMRC in the past 4 years causing them to pay too much tax. Although the average amount appears to be £200 - £250, we are aware of plenty of cases where the amount exceeds £1,000.

HMRC relies on you checking the tax codes it gives you and it is your responsibility to inform HMRC if they give you the wrong code. This is not something your employer can do for you.

We appreciate income tax is complex and members may have insufficient understanding of the tax rules to enable them to properly check the codes the have been given during the past 4 years.

The SSTA is therefore working with the UK’s leading professional tax review specialists to offer members the opportunity to receive a free online review of their current and last 4 years tax codes. The review, provided by The Tax Refund Company, will identify any errors that caused an employer to deduct too much tax and will help you get your money back from HMRC where this has occurred. Using the service does not require you to have kept your pay slips for the past 4 years.

There is no charge for this review. If you have paid the correct amount of tax, the review is free. If the review concludes you have paid too much tax, The Tax Refund Company will correspond with HMRC to try and recover your money. Where they are successful, there is a fee of £38 for amounts up to £100 or 38p per £1 where the amount recovered is over £100.

This fee only relates to money you overpaid in previous tax years. Any money you overpaid in the current tax year will be included as part of the review and recovered free of charge. In the rare event the review concludes you have underpaid, only you will be told, not HMRC. However, for complete peace of mind, if you receive an unexpected tax bill as a direct result of using this service, The Tax Refund Company will pay the bill for you. (T&C’s apply)

To take advantage of this new service, please go to www.sstatax.co.uk.  You will find out within a few minutes if you might have paid too much tax and if so, you will be able to register for a full review.

Please note – HMRC has a deadline for reclaiming overpaid tax so if you want to avoid losing money you could get back, you should consider reviewing your tax affairs as soon as possible.