The Student Room Group

Under 21 and getting taxed

Hiya,

I'm currently working in a night club, doing about 12-14 hours a week on night shifts. I am 20 years old, but getting taxed on my payment. I think I am not supposed to be taxed if I'm not 21 years old, is that correct?

If so, how I am supposed to get my taxes back? Should I find some form to fill in on the internet and then bring it to my work, or I can only wait for April 2010 to get my taxes back (btw, in this option, will I need to get something from my work in April? because I'm thinkin of leaving the job)

Thank you!

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No, you get taxed if you earn more than the allowance, which is about £6500/year. So, if you're being taxed, your weekly/monthly wage would see you earning more than this in a year. You will be taxed on anything over this amount.

Where did you hear that nonsense?
Reply 2
Check your tax code. If it's BR, you have no allowance and if it's 647L (?) you do have the allowance.

Age, amount of hours, being a full time student, etc are irelevant.
Reply 3
Your age makes no difference to your tax status, it's about the amount you earn.
Reply 4
George Agdgdgwngo
No, you get taxed if you earn more than the allowance, which is about £6500/year. So, if you're being taxed, your weekly/monthly wage would see you earning more than this in a year. You will be taxed on anything over this amount.

Where did you hear that nonsense?


This. Particular emphasis on the word nonsense. :rolleyes:
Reply 5
Sounds like you're on the BR code; you should ask your employer for a P46 to amend this. All this under 21 stuff is just nonsense (as others have said). As soon as you turn 16, you get taxed based on what you earn, not what age you are.
What's this nonsense about 16? Anyone is taxed whatever their age if their income is above the tax threshold. 5 year olds with investment income will pay tax if it is high enough income.
Powka
Hiya,

I'm currently working in a night club, doing about 12-14 hours a week on night shifts. I am 20 years old, but getting taxed on my payment. I think I am not supposed to be taxed if I'm not 21 years old, is that correct?

If so, how I am supposed to get my taxes back? Should I find some form to fill in on the internet and then bring it to my work, or I can only wait for April 2010 to get my taxes back (btw, in this option, will I need to get something from my work in April? because I'm thinkin of leaving the job)

Thank you!


As above, your age is irrelevant when it comes to determining how much, if any, tax is due on your income. If you earn more than your annual 'personal allowance' (currently £6,475 for most people), you'll have to pay Income Tax on your earnings in excess of this.

In the UK, a system called 'Pay As You Earn' (PAYE) is used to collect Income Tax from employees' salary. This system relies on a 'tax code' to apply the correct personal allowance to each individual, and if you don't give sufficient information (usually from a form P45 or P46) to your employer when you start working for them, it's quite common to be put on a code that gives a lower personal allowance than you should have.

I'd suggest checking your payslip - if the code is "BR" and you only have one job, this is most likely incorrect; a "647L" code would indicate the standard personal allowance is being applied. If you are on the wrong code, the easiest way to fix this is just to call your tax office (contact details here) and explain the situation. They should be able to issue a revised 'notice of coding' to your employer to amend your tax code, and you'll then receive a refund of any overpaid Income Tax the next time that you're paid.

If your tax code doesn't seem to be the problem, it would be useful if you could post details of our cumulative income to date in the current tax year (i.e., since 6 April 2009), as well as your level of weekly earnings, so that it's possible to work out what tax you should be paying.


Also, note that you won't be able to reclaim any National Insurance Contributions (NICS) that you've paid (these are also collected via PAYE). The tax-free threshold for NICS applies for each pay period rather tha for the tax year as a whole, so you can't get a refund on the basis of your overall level of annual income.
Reply 8
not to steal ur thread but just want to know whether overtime work counts towards the amount i earn in the year which depends on whether im taxed?
a12
not to steal ur thread but just want to know whether overtime work counts towards the amount i earn in the year which depends on whether im taxed?
Any income can count towards your taxable pay otherwise people would say their contracted hours are 2 but work 35.5 hours overtime.
Reply 10
does anyone know roughly hw much someone would get taxed if they were working around 20 hours a week? only cos i spend like £4 getting to work a day and £4 usually on mc d's (i kno i should stop!) plus if i get taxed im worried it would be like working for free as i havnt yet got my first pay yet..
a12
does anyone know roughly hw much someone would get taxed if they were working around 20 hours a week? only cos i spend like £4 getting to work a day and £4 usually on mc d's (i kno i should stop!) plus if i get taxed im worried it would be like working for free as i havnt yet got my first pay yet..


BR rate is 20% of your salary, IIRC. Check the web, it's up there somewhere.
a12
does anyone know roughly hw much someone would get taxed if they were working around 20 hours a week? only cos i spend like £4 getting to work a day and £4 usually on mc d's (i kno i should stop!) plus if i get taxed im worried it would be like working for free as i havnt yet got my first pay yet..

Overtime pay is counted just the same as the rest of your employment income. As for how much you're taxed, this depends on your level of income, rather than the number of hours that you work. If you earn less than your tax-free 'personal allowance' (currently £6,475 for most people) during the tax year (running from 6 April to 5 April), you won't have any Income tax liability (though certain earning patterns could lead to you paying tax and having to reclaim it later).

And people, we have a sticky right at the top of the thread list (clicky) for questions like this - use it! :wink:
Reply 13
a12
does anyone know roughly hw much someone would get taxed if they were working around 20 hours a week? only cos i spend like £4 getting to work a day and £4 usually on mc d's (i kno i should stop!) plus if i get taxed im worried it would be like working for free as i havnt yet got my first pay yet..


Its not worked out on the number of hours. Its done on the amount you get paid, without telling us your hourly rate we can't tell you.
Reply 14
flipshot
Its not worked out on the number of hours. Its done on the amount you get paid, without telling us your hourly rate we can't tell you.


5.80 hour (min wage)
once again someone has confused the vacation job form ?P38s ? with the real life world of tax ....

the vac form job was basically a declaration that you'd have no more taxable income in that tax year therefore your vac job could be paid effectively tax free
a12
5.80 hour (min wage)

20 hours per week = £116 per week -> £6,032 annually

This is less than the standard personal allowance, so I wouldn't expect you to have any Income Tax deducted (provided that you're on the correct tax code - see my post above). However, you'll have a small amount of National Insurance Contributions deducted, at 11% on the excess over £110 per week. This works out at 11% × £6 = 66p weekly. :smile:
zippyRN
once again someone has confused the vacation job form ?P38s ? with the real life world of tax ....

the vac form job was basically a declaration that you'd have no more taxable income in that tax year therefore your vac job could be paid effectively tax free

Yes, the form is the P38(S) (clicky). To anyone who's not aware of this, the form allows students working only in holiday periods to receive employment income without deduction of Income Tax. As part of this form, you have to declare that:
My total earnings including Jobseeker’s Allowance, paid because of unemployment, and other income from all sources, apart from scholarships and educational grants for the year ending 5 April next, will not be more than £6,475.
Reply 18
Illusionary
As above, your age is irrelevant when it comes to determining how much, if any, tax is due on your income. If you earn more than your annual 'personal allowance' (currently £6,475 for most people), you'll have to pay Income Tax on your earnings in excess of this.

In the UK, a system called 'Pay As You Earn' (PAYE) is used to collect Income Tax from employees' salary. This system relies on a 'tax code' to apply the correct personal allowance to each individual, and if you don't give sufficient information (usually from a form P45 or P46) to your employer when you start working for them, it's quite common to be put on a code that gives a lower personal allowance than you should have.

I'd suggest checking your payslip - if the code is "BR" and you only have one job, this is most likely incorrect; a "647L" code would indicate the standard personal allowance is being applied. If you are on the wrong code, the easiest way to fix this is just to call your tax office (contact details here) and explain the situation. They should be able to issue a revised 'notice of coding' to your employer to amend your tax code, and you'll then receive a refund of any overpaid Income Tax the next time that you're paid.

If your tax code doesn't seem to be the problem, it would be useful if you could post details of our cumulative income to date in the current tax year (i.e., since 6 April 2009), as well as your level of weekly earnings, so that it's possible to work out what tax you should be paying.


Also, note that you won't be able to reclaim any National Insurance Contributions (NICS) that you've paid (these are also collected via PAYE). The tax-free threshold for NICS applies for each pay period rather tha for the tax year as a whole, so you can't get a refund on the basis of your overall level of annual income.


Thanks for your response man.

I've checked, my code is BR. I'm working about 12 hours a week getting paid about 45quid a week (excluding taxes). So I think it won't be 6500 a year, then what should I do now mate? And will I get back that tax-money that they have taken from me?

Cheers!
Powka
Thanks for your response man.

I've checked, my code is BR. I'm working about 12 hours a week getting paid about 45quid a week (excluding taxes). So I think it won't be 6500 a year, then what should I do now mate? And will I get back that tax-money that they have taken from me?

Cheers!

The easiest thing to do is to call your tax office - they'll be able to get your code corrected. Once it's been changed, you'll get any refund that you're due through the payroll system the next time that you're paid. Given your level of income, I'd expect this to be a full refund of any Income Tax paid since 6 April 2009.