Under Tax'd??? Not my fault!!!

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

Hey All
This is both a "what do I do" and "who is to blame" query so forgive the rant.
Background - In new Job 4 months, was called into Payroll earlier and advised I underpaid tax of €7000 and it has to be paid by end of theyear.
Pay the last four months was as follows:
Pay 1 - 7 weeks
Pay 2 - 4 weeks(Normal)
Pay 3 - 4 weeks(€400 less than month 2)
Pay 4 - 4 weeks same as month three.

I did query why I was docked €400 extra in month three but was advised by both work and revenue that this was correct.

I have also called revenue and they have advised they sent the certs in June, which work also corroborated.

I am now in a situation where I have to pay this back before the end of the year even though I done everything correctly and double checkjed everything was received and in order.

What do I do in this instance?
Am I liable for an event which has been caused by an admin work error or should work absorb this?

Also how could the debt be €6000 when the difference in Month 3 was only €400????

I should mention the payroll rep that advised me today was the same rep who advised me that everything wasin order four months ago.

Help appreciated

wally1990

Very hard to answer without knowing the exact details but to answer your question.

You are liable and you must pay this back to the Revenue.

Unfortunately your employer is not liable for the underpayment of tax

goldenhoarde

Okay you need to check your payslip for the YTD figures for this employment and also the figures from your last employment either on the last payslip or your p45

Are you paid the same each month? If so you can add in for the last few months and use a tax calc to figure out your tax for the year

Then add the tax paid up and you should have the diff between what's due and what's paid. As per the other posters you are liable

CIARAN_BOYLE

While your employer collects tax from you, you are the one that owes the tax. There's no reason why your employer should absorb the liability.

The liability has been caused by you getting too much money. I don't see why you thinking been caused by an admin error.

If you double checked everything was in order you would have calculated your net salary to verify that it's correct.

Revenue probably issued a new cert for you with the liability. The original one must have been incorrect or else your employer failed to process it correctly. Either way you are still the one that owes the tax.

Sorry if I sound harsh but I've seen too many situations like this.

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

@goldenhoarde - No there was an increase of €16k PA.

Admin because they advised earlier they were using my old credits, not new ones.

Also they advised they didn't receive the up to date tax cert till 03/11 but as I said earlier, I checked twice if they received the cert from the tax office back in June, and they confirmed yes twice.

I understand I've been paid too much, but like i said, i checked twice in Month three and was confirmed by both Revenue and the job that it was correct.

It wreaks of someone trying to cover their A$$ for the error. Sorry but that's how it comes across.

If it was three * €400(€1200) I'd be ok with it, but €6000 just doesn't add up.

wally1990

aaaaaaaahhhhhh wrote: »

@goldenhoarde - No there was an increase of €16k PA.

Admin because they advised earlier they were using my old credits, not new ones.

Also they advised they didn't receive the up to date tax cert till 03/11 but as I said earlier, I checked twice if they received the cert from the tax office back in June, and they confirmed yes twice.

I understand I've been paid too much, but like i said, i checked twice in Month three and was confirmed by both Revenue and the job that it was correct.

It wreaks of someone trying to cover their A$$ for the error. Sorry but that's how it comes across.

If it was three * €400(€1200) I'd be ok with it, but €6000 just doesn't add up.

I know this is gonna sound obvious just ring/email the payroll team and ask for a breakdown of the income and taxes on the old cert vs the new cert and how €6,000 in underpayment is calculated for your clarity

You need to see a breakdown

But either way you still owe the money

wally1990

wally1990 wrote: »

I know this is gonna sound obvious just ring/email the payroll team and ask for a breakdown of the income and taxes on the old cert vs the new cert and how €6,000 in underpayment is calculated for your clarity

You need to see a breakdown

But either way you still owe the money

Did you get an update

_Brian

I've seen this with one employer..

The employer covered the immediate liability and then deducted the cost from the employees pay over the following 12 months, with written agreement that if the employee were to leave they would owe the employer the outstangding ammount.

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

wally1990 wrote: »

Did you get an update

Got the update today.
Tax office done everything correctly.

Root cause was Admin error on behalf of payroll that they didn't take PRSA into account and update it on the system back in June.

But as it's them paying revenue on my behalf, I'm liable regardless as I owe revenue, not them. Work will not cover this. Hence no pay till end of Jan.

Tell me how that's frekin legal and moral!!!!!!!!

wally1990

aaaaaaaahhhhhh wrote: »

Got the update today.
Tax office done everything correctly.

Root cause was Admin error on behalf of payroll that they didn't take PRSA into account and update it on the system back in June.

But as it's them paying revenue on my behalf, I'm liable regardless as I owe revenue, not them. Work will not cover this. Hence no pay till end of Jan.

Tell me how that's frekin legal and moral!!!!!!!!

Whilst the liability is with you as we all know this is absolutely horrible !!! And I feel for you , huge underpayment , wasn't picked up and now your stuck

Can the employer not pay you over on your behalf and you repay them over a period of time?

Having no wages till the end of January isn't realistic for most people due to their admin error

Regardless of liability they should be more accommodating and help you help

You will pay them back

Awful , and at Christmas time

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

wally1990 wrote: »

Whilst the liability is with you as we all know this is absolutely horrible !!! And I feel for you , huge underpayment , wasn't picked up and now your stuck

Can the employer not pay you over on your behalf and you repay them over a period of time?

Having no wages till the end of January isn't realistic for most people due to their admin error

Regardless of liability they should be more accommodating and help you help

You will pay them back

Awful , and at Christmas time

I tried to negotiate to no avail. They need their books closed by the end of Jan and will not move on it.

They can't even provide a salary advance to at least keep me going.

Only option is to credit union loan at least half the balance and pay back over a longer term.

This isn't like your local centra where their tied to Money, it's a big billion dollar multinational, so I don't know why there isn't policies in place for this

Citizenpain

Try calling revenue , they may agree to collecting it over a couple of years.

thesimpsons

Revenue are very helpful - they would usually have no problem spreading the repayment over 2/3 years by reducing your credits. definitely give them a call asap before they stop issuing new credit allowance certs for 2017

Mrs OBumble

You must be earning a huge amount to have clocked up that sort of liability.

Unless .. were you on JSB (taxable but not taxed at source) before starting the job? If you were, then effectively you need to pay the tax on that as well as the tax on your current wages once you start working.

splinter65

Seconded there on ringing Revenue and asking if it can be spread over 2018/2019

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

splinter65 wrote: »

Seconded there on ringing Revenue and asking if it can be spread over 2018/2019

Called into them today, shouldn't be an issue but as payday is Monday might be too late. Have to go back tomorrow

deathtocaptcha

How could you owe €6,000 in tax and not be aware of it? surely you know how much you earn and how much you should be paying in tax (even roughly speaking)... a €6,000 difference over 4 months is something most people would notice / question straight away.

This is a lesson in why you shouldn't just accept whatever lands in your bank account from your employer or whatever is written in your payslip. If in doubt, speak up and ask questions. If you feel it's too good to be true and don't want to draw attention to something that you know is probably benefiting you, you can stay quiet but you should at least be tucking away the 'too good to be true' amount in to a savings account and anticipating events like this...

Looks like the employer ****ed up here and they should be cutting you some slack as a result but it's a good example of what happens when you don't take control of your own finances and understand every line in your contract and every figure on the payslip.

Hitman3000

aaaaaaaahhhhhh wrote:

I tried to negotiate to no avail. They need their books closed by the end of Jan and will not move on it.

Had a similar situation happen to me several years ago. Revenue reduced my tax credits for 3 years to cover the underpayment. Contact Revenue.

aaaaaaaahhhhhh

deathtocaptcha wrote: »

This is a lesson in why you shouldn't just accept whatever lands in your bank account from your employer or whatever is written in your payslip.

It's a lesson not to take the payroll departments confirmation as gospel also.
As I mentioned in the OP, I asked twice via email If all was in order and was advised yes twice .
But you're right, check everything and don't take anything as gospel. That's the lesson here.