Will I automatically get my emergency tax refund after my tax code was corrected?
So I started a new job about 4 months ago and I've been stuck on emergency tax this whole time. My paychecks have been getting absolutely destroyed because of this! I finally managed to get through to HMRC on Oct 12th and they sorted it out with my employer to fix my tax code to the correct one. My question is - when I get paid at the end of October (which will be my first paycheck with the correct tax code), will the system automatically refund all the extra tax I've been paying these past 4 months? Or do I need to do something else to get that money back? It's a pretty significant amount at this point and I really need it back ASAP. Has anyone dealt with this before? I'm hoping it just shows up in my next paycheck without me having to chase it down.
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Freya Andersen
Yes, you should see the refund in your next paycheck automatically. When your tax code is corrected, your employer's payroll system will recalculate the tax you should have paid since the beginning of the tax year and compare it to what you actually paid. The difference (your overpayment) will be refunded to you. Keep in mind that the refund might make your next paycheck look unusually large! This is normal - it's just including all those months of overpaid tax. If for some reason you don't see the refund in your next pay, I'd recommend checking your payslip carefully first to make sure it's not there, then speaking to your payroll department before contacting HMRC again.
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Omar Farouk
•Thanks for the info. Do you know if there's any way to check beforehand roughly how much I should expect back? And also, is this refund itself taxable or is it just giving me back money that was wrongfully taken?
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Freya Andersen
•You can estimate how much you should get back by looking at your previous payslips and calculating the difference between what you paid under emergency tax and what you would have paid under your correct tax code. Your personal allowance is likely around £12,570 for the year (about £1,048 per month), so any income below that threshold shouldn't be taxed. The refund is not taxable. It's simply returning money that shouldn't have been taken in the first place. Think of it as a correction rather than additional income.
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CosmicCadet
I went through something similar last year and was panicking about getting my money back. I ended up using https://taxr.ai to analyze my payslips and figure out exactly how much I was owed. It was super helpful because the system actually explained which parts of my emergency tax were incorrect and calculated the exact refund I should expect. Made it a lot easier when talking to both payroll and HMRC because I knew exactly what I was entitled to.
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Chloe Harris
•How does that work? Do you just upload your payslips and it figures everything out? I'm in a similar situation and the numbers are just confusing me.
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Diego Mendoza
•I'm a bit skeptical about using third-party services for tax stuff. Isn't it risky to upload your payslips to some random website? Do they store your financial information?
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CosmicCadet
•You just take photos of your payslips or upload PDFs and it analyzes all the tax codes, deductions, and compares what you paid versus what you should have paid. It breaks everything down in normal language so you can understand exactly what's going on. They don't store your documents permanently - they analyze them and then provide you with the breakdown. Everything is encrypted too. I was hesitant at first but it saved me from having to figure out all the calculations myself, which I was definitely getting wrong when I tried.
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Diego Mendoza
Just wanted to update - I ended up trying https://taxr.ai after my initial skepticism and I'm glad I did. It confirmed I was owed £920 in emergency tax refunds which matched exactly what showed up in my next paycheck. The breakdown actually showed that my employer had been using the wrong tax code for 2 additional months that I hadn't even realized! Would've left money on the table if I hadn't checked.
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Anastasia Popova
If your refund doesn't show up automatically or if HMRC is being slow to respond, I highly recommend using https://claimyr.com to get through to them. I spent WEEKS trying to get through to HMRC about my emergency tax situation last year and kept getting disconnected or waiting for hours. Used Claimyr's service and got connected to an HMRC agent in about 10 minutes. They have a demo video here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c that shows how it works. Saved me so much frustration!
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Sean Flanagan
•Wait, how exactly does this work? Do they somehow let you skip the queue or something? Sounds too good to be true considering how impossible it is to get through to HMRC.
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Zara Shah
•This sounds like a scam tbh. No way there's some magic service that gets you through to HMRC when their lines are constantly jammed. They probably just take your money and give you the same HMRC number everyone else uses.
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Anastasia Popova
•They use an automated system that calls HMRC continuously and navigates through all the menu options. Once they actually get through to the queue, they connect the call to you. It's not skipping the queue - they're basically just handling the frustrating part of repeatedly calling and navigating all those annoying menu options. It's basically like having someone sit there and redial for you constantly until they get through. Then when they do, you get a text and jump on the call. Saved me hours of listening to that horrible hold music.
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Zara Shah
Ok so I need to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After struggling for 3 days trying to get through to HMRC about my own tax issue, I gave it a shot. Got a call back within 45 minutes and was connected straight to an HMRC agent. She sorted my emergency tax refund issue in one call. Definitely worth it just for the time saved and stress avoided. Never thought I'd be recommending something I called a scam but here we are lol.
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NebulaNomad
Pro tip: make sure you check your payslip carefully when you do get your refund. My employer made a mistake when processing mine and I nearly missed out on about £240. The amount should match roughly what you can calculate from your previous payslips - take what you paid in tax and subtract what you should have paid based on your correct tax code.
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Luca Ferrari
•Is there a simple formula for calculating what I should have paid? I've been on emergency tax for 3 months but I'm not sure how to work out exactly how much I'm owed.
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NebulaNomad
•A rough formula would be to look at your gross pay each month, subtract your monthly personal allowance (typically around £1,048), and then calculate 20% tax on that amount. Compare this to what was actually deducted under emergency tax. The difference is approximately what you're owed. For example, if your monthly gross pay is £2,500, you'd normally pay roughly: (£2,500 - £1,048) × 20% = £290.40 in tax each month. If under emergency tax you paid £500 each month, you'd be owed about £209.60 per month.
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Nia Wilson
Anyone know if you get interest on the refunded emergency tax? Been on emergency tax for 6 months now and still waiting for my code to be fixed. That's a lot of my money HMRC has been sitting on.
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Mateo Martinez
•You don't typically get interest on in-year refunds that come through your employer's payroll. If it goes into the next tax year and you have to claim it directly from HMRC rather than through your employer, then sometimes they do pay interest, but it's pretty minimal anyway.
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Romeo Barrett
Just to add some reassurance - I went through exactly this situation about 8 months ago. Was on emergency tax for nearly 5 months due to a mess-up with my P45 from my previous job. When HMRC finally sorted my tax code, I got back over £1,400 in my next paycheck! The system really does work automatically once your code is corrected. Your payroll department will recalculate everything from April 6th (start of tax year) and you'll get the difference back. Just make sure to double-check the amount on your payslip - sometimes there can be small errors in the calculation, but in my experience it's usually spot on. The waiting is the hardest part, but once it's fixed, the relief is incredible. You should definitely see that refund in your next pay!
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Aisha Ali
I'm actually going through this exact same situation right now! Been on emergency tax for 3 months and finally got my tax code sorted last week. Really hoping to see that refund in my next paycheck because like you said, emergency tax has been absolutely brutal on my take-home pay. One thing I learned from calling HMRC is that if you don't see the refund automatically, you can also request a P800 tax calculation which will show exactly how much you're owed. But from what everyone's saying here, it sounds like it should just appear automatically which is a huge relief. Fingers crossed we both see those refunds soon! The amount I'm expecting back would honestly be life-changing right now given how tight money's been with the reduced paychecks.
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Jean Claude
•I'm in the exact same boat! Just got my tax code corrected after being on emergency tax for 4 months. The anticipation is killing me - I've calculated that I'm probably owed around £800-900 based on what everyone's sharing here. It's crazy how much emergency tax takes compared to the correct rate. Really hoping we both see those refunds show up automatically in our next paychecks. The financial stress from those reduced take-home amounts has been rough, so getting that lump sum back would be such a relief. Keep us posted on how it goes for you!
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