HMRC: Millions Urged to Check Post for Potential Tax Refund Letters
Around four million households are being urged to watch out for official letters from HMRC dropping through their letterboxes between now and August. The letters could mean one thing for many – a tax refund.
If you’re an employee paid via PAYE or a pensioner, you might be due money back. That’s because overpayments happen more often than people realise — and a wrong tax code is usually to blame.
A P800 letter is what you’ll want to look for. It outlines if you’ve overpaid your Income Tax for the year and whether you’re owed a refund. These will be sent automatically by HMRC if they spot you’ve paid too much.
“HMRC will never text, email, or call about tax refunds – they’ll always communicate by post first.”
The most common tax code, 1257L, allows most people to earn £12,570 per year before they pay Income Tax. But this doesn’t apply to everyone. If you have more than one job, or if your circumstances have changed, you could be on codes like BR, D0, D1, or 0T — and that might be costing you money.
So, how do you check? Easy. Look at your latest payslip or dig out your P45 if you’ve left a job recently. You can also check online through GOV.UK using your Government Gateway ID.
But here’s the catch — scammers know about these letters too.
“Brits have also been warned by MoneySavingExpert to stay alert to fraudsters pretending to be HMRC online and over the phone.”
Any message claiming to be from HMRC — especially via text or email — should be treated with suspicion. If you are eligible for a refund, you’ll first be contacted by letter. Only then might you be asked to log into your GOV.UK account to complete the claim.
To make a legitimate claim, you’ll need two things: your National Insurance number and your P800 reference. If you’ve been overpaying for a while, good news — you can usually reclaim for up to four previous tax years. Sometimes, even longer, depending on the circumstances.
But it works both ways.
If you’ve underpaid tax because of an incorrect code, HMRC won’t let that slide. You’ll have to pay the difference.
Bottom line? Don’t ignore your post this summer. That envelope from HMRC might just be worth opening.
