Tribunal ruling serves important reminder to employees surrounding paperwork
17 October 2019
Cindy Riquier has lost the case in which she asserted that her employer was to blame for underpayment of her personal tax in relation to the tax year 2015-2016. In a complex dispute, Riquier explained how she had held two jobs in the month of December 2015 but that she joined one company, Towergate whilst serving her notice period with another business, Intelligent Positioning.
On her P46, the now defunct document that has been superseded by the starter declaration form, she selected option B. Option B states that this is a person’s only job but that they have held another job since the start of the current tax year – based on 2015-2016, this would mean an employer would place their new member of staff on tax code 1060L W1/M1 as per HMRC legislation. She advised that she made this choice as, whilst on her notice period with Intelligent Positioning, she was not expected to physically attend work and so maintained that her new employment with Towergate would now be classed as her only employment.
The real issue originates from the fact that, due to her selection, she received two tax-free allowances in the month of December 2015, which led to an underpayment of £827.85 in tax to be repaid. Riquier upheld that this was her employer’s mistake for placing her on an inaccurate tax code but this was overruled as it was deemed as her own responsibility for completing paperwork incorrectly. Towergate had proceeded exactly how the law dictated, based on the information Riquier had provided. Her counterargument was that there was no option available that accommodated her situation.
Notes held surrounding the case also reference the fact that Riquier had not disclosed foreign income she had received on her self-assessment, which she would also be required to pay tax liabilities on. The claimant didn’t appear to contend this matter and was primarily concerned with the underpayment of tax through PAYE.
Although the P46 document is no longer in use, the starter declaration form offers the same options for new employees to select when they commence employment. This tribunal acts as a stark reminder that employees need to read and complete any payroll documentation accurately and completely or face the potential consequences of incorrect paperwork, which could prove to be rather costly!
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