maxb

The problem with that method is that it assumes the tax code notice is infallibly correct... which, granted, it does seem to have been in this instance, but part of the purpose of Self Assessment is to correct for mistakes or out of date info in the PAYE process. As an alternative, I'd suggest finding your previous year's weekly rate, and your current year's weekly rate, and following the guidance in the "How to fill in your tax return" (SA150 Notes) from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-tax-return-sa100 That way, you're working from the most accurate data available to you, and using a method HMRC have declared in writing to be correct. And yes, it does come to £10581.50 for a 2023/24 New State Pension.

Given the SA150 Notes tell us to use 1 week old / 51 weeks new, regardless of the day of the week 6th April falls on (for people who reached State Pension age on or after 6th April 2010), the only logic I can think of fitting with this is that, on a Monday 6th April: * First, entitlement accrues for the week that has just completed (Monday March 30th through Sunday April 5th) at the old rate * Second, the rate switches to the new rate for week just starting to accrue Frustratingly, I can't find any sources to verify, so this is just conjecture to fit the observed advice. But, this hints at another can of worms... in some years there will be not 52 Mondays, but 53. If I'm understanding this right, those years would need to be calculated as 1 week old / 52 weeks new. The last such year was 2020/21 ... I went back to look at the SA150 equivalent from that year, but it didn't feature all the details present on the current ones, so was inconclusive.

@Xiao Chen Somewhat surprisingly to me too, the Self Assessment form does not ask you to explicitly claim the carry forward of unused Annual Allowance. It just has the one question: "Amount saved towards your pension, in the period covered by this tax return, in excess of the Annual Allowance" It is left up to you to figure out what your Annual Allowance is, including carry forward, and if you went over it, by how much - and just declare the amount saved in excess, if any. Personally, I'd still put as much information as I could into the Additional Information box for the whole return about how I worked out the figure, just so I had the information already there in the return if I was ever challenged about it - but I'm not aware of it being required to do so. I think you could just leave above-mentioned question blank, if you know you have enough carry forward Annual Allowance to cover all your pensions savings. In other words - you don't claim the carry forward - you just don't declare the liability to the extra charge, if you have no liability after considering carry forward.

Moreover, there is *no* circumstance in which a PAYE tax code adjustment allows for income to be then omitted from Self Assessment. Self Assessment always looks back over everything that happened in the tax year - PAYE only allows for tax to be paid earlier, it still remains part of the overall year's calculation.

@yolondon Option c) is correct, and the lump sums to which the 30k exemption applies are mainly those that are compensation for e.g. loss of employment, redundancy, etc. A bonus, whether initial or annual, is still part of normal employment earnings, a position reinforced by it being included within the P60. Fuller, painstakingly elaborate details can be found within various parts of the EIM series of HMRC manuals if you care to review the source material more closely, though they make for a difficult read as there are so many references to other pages that need to be followed to understand what you are reading. Option b) would see you taxed twice on the same income. A distinct problem with option a) is that figures making up your P60 will already have been independently sent to HMRC by your employer - I don't know if they would pick up on the discrepancy if you submitted different figures yourself or not, but it's a possibility.

The document "How to fill in your tax return" downloadable from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-tax-return-sa100 tells you at the end of page 6 and start of page 7, to calculate the amount as 1 week of the old weekly amount plus 51 weeks of the new weekly amount, in most cases.

@Bear If you know you need to submit a tax return, it doesn't really matter whether your tax codes were correct or not, as the tax return calculation is going to look back over the entire year anyway, and calculate a balancing payment or refund. This will correct for any omitted or excessive PAYE deduction. Lots of people show up on this forum unduly focused on the tax code, but the tax code is only a means to control the PAYE process during the year, often based on estimates. Once the year has ended, if you are completing a tax return, it is what determines what tax you actually pay. Make sure to include the claim for the amount of professional fees you actually paid in your return.

@Anthony The detail you aren't accounting for in your example, is that since your salary has been reduced by salary sacrifice, more of your basic rate band is left available to apply to your £20k other income. Colleague: £55k taxable salary, £50270 to £55k charged at 40% tax You: (£35k taxable salary plus £20k other income) = £55k total taxable income, £50270 to £55k charged at 40% tax Same position in each case.

It sounds like you reduced your 23/24 payments on account below the total amount of tax you were actually finally liable for in 23/24 - however that isn't allowed. If you do it anyway, the reduction below your actual tax liability is undone, and you are held to be late paying the amounts of the payments on account from when they were originally due. It's a misunderstanding to think the 31st January of the following year deadline can be applied to your entire tax bill once payments on account have been issued. Essentially, the problem is that rather than reducing payments on account to avoid paying tax which will only be refunded later (allowed), you used the reduction to optimise your cash flow to defer paying tax actually due (not allowed). By the time of the second payment on account for 23/24, in July 2024, the 23/24 tax year is already finished, so you should have received all of the income on which you are being taxed at that point - and also enough information to calculate your total tax due for 23/24 to know how much, if any, you can reduce payments on account without penalty. If you have cash flow difficulties with paying the tax from the income on which it arose, https://www.gov.uk/difficulties-paying-hmrc may be relevant.

If you look at the total earnings shown on your P60, I expect you'll find the taxable value of the benefit has already been included within that figure, in addition to your gross salary. That's how it gets accounted for, without a P11D.