03 November 2009
Successful tax refund claim when leaving the UK: PAYE, P45, P85
In a previous post I had explained the steps to follow in order to prepare a successful tax refund claim, specifically for Income Tax or PAYE (Pay As You Earn), once you stop working in the United Kingdom: Tax Refund when you leave the UK: PAYE, P45, P85.Well, I must say that my claim was successful and the money was already paid into my British bank account and last week I received a letter from the HM Revenue & Customs with the tax refund calculation details, along with a practical guide called "Understanding your Tax Calculation". The refund amount I had previously calculated was correct and the money was paid into my bank account with no problems, within a reasonable period of time. The whole process took me about a month, so the main purpose of this post is to encourage claiming the tax refund to all those who have given up, thinking that it will be a long and bureaucratic process, and probably will not get what they want.
Below is a chronological summary of the steps I took to get my money back:
- September 14th: I sent all the required documentation (P45 Parts 2 and 3, P85) to the tax office in the UK by certified post along with a handwritten letter indicating my own calculation.
- September 21st: The letter arrived to the appropriate Tax Office in the UK.
- October 16th: The claimed amount was deposited into my British bank account whose details I had provided in the form P85.
- October 29th: I received a letter by post from the appropriate UK Tax Office stating that my claim was accepted and the money will be paid into my UK bank account provided in the form P85. The letter had been sent on October 8. You can see the first page of this notification on the picture included in this post.
As you can see, the entire process since I sent the letter until I received the formal answer from the UK Tax Office, took about 45 days. 30 out of those 45 days were notifications travel time. The overall time elapsed from the day the UK Tax Office received my letter (September 21st) until they sent me the formal notification (8th October) was only 18 days.
As a final comment, if you don’t own a bank account in the United Kingdom, they can send you a check along with the formal notification (you also can provide a friend’s bank account in the form 85). The UK Tax Office doesn’t make payments into foreign bank accounts.
27 comments :
Hi!
I just wanted to thank you for all this important information!
Milena
Thanks for your comment Milena. We are glad that this information was useful for you.
Regards,
Hi admin,I just wanna know if they require to inquiry about me,what they gonna do ,will they trying to call me in Uk telephone number or they will send the letter to my home country address?
Binaya, you have to send them all the documentation about your claim. They have the same information on their systems and they will notify about the result of the claim by writing. They won´t try to reach you by phone. The claim will or will not apply. No reason to call you. Good luck with your claim!
Regards,
Hi admin,
I worked in London for three months, and I sent the p45 and p85 about 5 weeks ago, and I still haven't got any notices from them, nor have I got the money either. I followed the same steps that you did, so I was wondering if there is anything wrong or they work slowly because I sent it in the summer time...
Do you think I'll get my taxes back?
@peternac: Sorry for the delay. I had no problems with the refund. Did you call the tax office? Best way to know what happened is to call the office you sent the letter. I did that.
There is no way to know online.
Have luck with your refund!
Hello Sir,
First of all thank you for this informative post of yours, it has been really helpful.
One quick clarification regarding the UK tax returns.
I have worked in UK for 3 months in 2011 ( from Feb 1 2011- Jul 2011) and I am about to send the P85 form for my tax returns. I was wondering if I can still get my returns if I file them now in Nov 2012? Is there any deadline before which I have to or I must have submitted my P85 form.
Appreciate your response.
Thank you in advance.
hello sir my father left uk about 10 years ago he lıves ın turkey he already pays tax here wıth anythıng he buys so ıs he gonna get paıd bk from hm ıf we fıll p85 he s brıtısh cıtızen he has 5 dıffrent oensıons retıred thank you
@SK: yes, you can claim. You have 4 years to do that. Good luck!
@Muhlis: No, you can't claim now. You can claim taxes since 4 years from now. Your father left 10 years ago, so the claiming period has expired. Sorry about that. Regards,
Hi Admin,
If I've worked few months in 2010 (november-december) and few months in 2011 (November-December), do I have to send two p85 forms as are 2 different taxes years or can I just fill one?
Ale, no, you need to fill just one P85.
Good luck!
Kind regards,
Hello. I already sent p85 form and my original p45 form before 7 working days so do u have any idea how much time it will be take and I m leaving this country in first week of April and am I get any notice or directly get money.
Vrund, there is no rule. But if you choose bank transfer you should have the money deposited in no more than 3 or 4 weeks.
Regards!
Hello,
I have worked in uk since 2009 and thinking to leave in 2 weeks .
Knowing that i will not get pension from uk and with no plans to return here in the future , do you think i can claim all my tax back ?
2009 was just 3 months work , than 2010 was 8.7k paying 670 pounds tax,
2011 was 8.9 paying 695 pounds tax,
2012 was 9.2 paying 668 pounds tax,
2013 was 5k paying 440 pounds tax.
If not... i have paid tax for nothing and will have no benefit later from working in uk.
Thank you
C
Hello,
You can the taxes you have paid in excess. So if you paid the right ammount of tax, you can't claim the back.
This post is about PAYE tax. We don't know about social security that you paid (pension, health, etc.). We think tha you can't claim those things back.
And that doesn't mean that you didn't use it. PAYE is for paying services that it is suppose that you enjoyed while there (health, cleaning, city maintenance, etc.). But with retirement, yes, is true that you probably won't use this. You should check if the UK has a speciall agreement with your country that allow you transfer the money you have paid on that concepto to your social security account in your own country.
Regards,
Hello,
I have a question about the p85 form. If I have a bank account and I want to use my account as nominated by other for about 20 or 50 people, do you think this will be a problem for HMRC? Because they are some agencies that are helping people to refund their taxes but they have and another form for authorization.
Thank you!
Hi Admin,
I worked in UK from october 2011 to 8th April 2013, when I left the country. By now, not planning to come back, wondering whether I am entitled to get all my taxes that I paid back. Thanks for ur time
@Anonymous: I don't understand your question clearly. But if an agency is helping you to recover your taxes should be ok.
@cigis: You can't recover all your taxes back. Just the taxes you paid in excess.
Hello,
I have a problem with getting back my tax return. I left UK in 2012 and send them form P85 this year. However, HR Revenue & Customs send me the following response: " You cannot use form P85 to claim a tax refund for the year of your departure from the UK, which was tax year ending 5 April 2012. This is because, from the information I have on record, you have been paying tax through the Self Assessment system since the tax year ending 5 April 2012. Our records show that your Self Assessment tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2012 was previously submitted online on 8 May 2012".
I cannot understand what they meant by saying that. Could you help please?
Hello Полина Лукина. Sorry but we don't know what is a Self Assessment system. We recommend to look for more information with HMRC.
hi id liked to asked if i need to resigned at my work so i can get the p45 and send it along with p85 form. and is there anyone who can help me out how to write down the right answers and idea how too.
@Hydz Thanks: you get your P45 when finishing work. There are no questions for claiming taxes back. You just write a letter (similar to the one in this blog) saying that you've paid taxes in excess, and if you give them the amount much better.
I worked only for one month in UK May 2015 and Is there any rule like say we need to submit the p85 form before oct 31st 2015.
How much time does it take to get through check since the bank account of mine is now closed in UK
Anonymous: you have 4 years to claim your PAYE excess payment back. In our experience, back to Spain, the time was roughly two months.
Regards,
do you have a sample filled up P85 template to explain it in detail?
I am filling up the form but there are certain questions where i am confused as to how it should be interpreted like-
i stayed in UK from Aug 2015 to July 2016 and want to claim for Apri 2016 to July 2016.
it asks -
1) were you resident in the UK in the tax year before the tax year you left ?
my answer is yes as i stayed in UK from Aug 2015 to MAr 2016
2) how many days do you expect to spend in the next 3 tax years
my answer is 0 days
Hi,
My girlfriend is Australian and we go to Australia for good on 2nd March. She did a p85 form as she finished work before Christmas. But calling HMRC just now they said they will pay it on the date she leaves as that's government rules. I've not seen this anywhere on the government website and it sounds pretty stupid as people would want their money before they leave. So did the money get paid into your bank after you'd left the uk or whilst you were still here?
Thanks in advance.
Peter
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