UK Tax Refund Claim Checker

About the UK Tax Refund Claim Checker

Find out how to claim back UK Income Tax you paid too much of — and roughly how much. Answer a few questions about what the tax was on (pay from a job, a pension payment, job expenses, savings or PPI interest, a Self Assessment bill, a redundancy payment, income from abroad) and when you paid it. The checker follows HMRC’s own decision tree on GOV.UK to the right route: a refund through your tax code or payroll, a tax calculation letter (P800), form P50 after leaving work, the pension forms P53, P53Z, P50Z and P55, form P87 for job expenses, R40 for tax taken off interest, R43 if you live abroad, P85 if you are leaving, or your Self Assessment return.

For pay and pensions it also gives a rough refund estimate from your tax code and pay: it works out the tax the code took (cumulatively, or period by period for an emergency W1, M1 or X code) and the tax actually due on your income for the tax year with HMRC’s rates and bands, including Scotland’s. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Without a pass the page gives a free preview of your own result: the route to claim in full, with the time limit and the first step of what to do; a Pro pass opens every step, the estimate and its working, the copy, the download and printing.

How HMRC decides the route

• Pay from a job this tax year: if you are still in the job, HMRC corrects your tax code and your employer refunds you through pay. If you have left, the refund comes through your next employer (give it your P45), through Jobcentre Plus if you claim a taxable benefit, through your tax code if a workplace pension starts — or, if you are not working again this tax year, from HMRC on form P50 once you have had your final pay (if you plan to work again before 5 April, only after more than 4 weeks without work).
• Last tax year: HMRC checks everyone with a job or pension after the year ends and sends a tax calculation letter (P800) if you paid too much; it says whether to claim online or whether a cheque is coming.
• 2 to 4 years ago: no P800 usually means your tax was right; if not, report each year in your personal tax account. Older years are past the 4-year limit.
• Self Assessment: overpaid tax is part of your return — a refund comes automatically if you asked for it on the return, or you request it from your online account.
• Savings, PPI interest and annuities: form R40; job expenses: the online service or form P87 (up to £2,500), else Self Assessment; living abroad: R43; leaving the UK: P85; foreign income taxed twice: Foreign Tax Credit Relief on your return.

Pension payments taxed on an emergency code

A pension provider usually taxes a first flexible payment on an emergency (month 1) code, which can take far too much. Which form claims it back depends on what you took: P53 for a small lump sum (small pot or trivial commutation); P55 for part of your pot as a one-off payment, with no regular payments this tax year; P53Z if you took all of your pot and have other income; P50Z if you took all of your pot and have stopped working, with no taxable benefit and no other pension. Death benefit payments have their own versions (P50Z(DB), P53Z(DB), P55(DB)). Claim online with HMRC’s pension refund service; the paper forms are for people who cannot ([GOV.UK]([object Object])). With regular payments, the provider puts it right once HMRC sends the correct code.

How the estimate is worked out

The number in a tax code is your tax-free pay a year divided by 10: 1257L gives £12,570. A cumulative code works each payday out from your pay and tax since 6 April, so a full year on the right code takes the right tax. An emergency code (W1, M1 or X after it) works each payday out on its own, with a twelfth (or a 52nd) of the allowance and bands, so a job that started part way through the year, or pay that varies, often takes too much. BR, D0 and D1 tax all of the pay at one rate (in Scotland SBR and SD0 to SD3), K codes add pay, NT takes nothing ([GOV.UK tax codes]([object Object])).

The estimate compares that with the tax due on all your income for the tax year: the £12,570 Personal Allowance (less £1 for every £2 above £100,000, and less £1,260 if you transferred Marriage Allowance), then the rates and bands of that tax year for England, Wales and Northern Ireland or for Scotland ([HMRC rates]([object Object])); Marriage Allowance you receive takes £252 off. Interest is taxed after other income: the rest of the Personal Allowance, the 0% starting rate for savings (£5,000, less other taxable income) and the Personal Savings Allowance (£1,000 basic rate, £500 higher rate, none additional rate) ([GOV.UK]([object Object])).

Time limits

A claim for overpaid Income Tax can be made for the current tax year and the 4 tax years before it: the oldest year’s claim must reach HMRC within 4 years of 5 April at its end. A filed Self Assessment return can be corrected within 12 months of the 31 January filing deadline; after that, overpayment relief is claimed in writing within 4 years of the end of the tax year.

Official sources

• [GOV.UK: Check how to claim a tax refund]([object Object]) — the decision tree this checker follows
• [GOV.UK: Tax overpayments and underpayments]([object Object]) and [if your P800 says you’re due a refund]([object Object])
• [GOV.UK: Tax codes]([object Object])
• [GOV.UK: Claim back Income Tax when you’ve stopped working (P50)]([object Object])
• [GOV.UK: Claim a tax refund on your pension by post]([object Object])
• [GOV.UK: Claim tax relief for your job expenses]([object Object]) and [by post (P87)]([object Object])
• [GOV.UK: R40, tax on savings and investments]([object Object]) and [R43, if you live abroad]([object Object])
• [GOV.UK: P85, if you’re leaving the UK]([object Object])
• [GOV.UK: changing a Self Assessment return]([object Object])
• [HMRC: Income Tax rates and allowances for current and past years]([object Object]) and [rates and thresholds for employers (2022 to 2023)]([object Object])

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Limitations

• A rough estimate from the figures you enter, not HMRC’s calculation: HMRC works out the actual refund, and its payroll tables round each period slightly differently.
• The estimate covers pay, pensions, taxable benefits and savings interest. Dividends, capital gains, Gift Aid and pension contributions (which extend the bands), the Blind Person’s Allowance, student loans and National Insurance are not included.
• Whether you are a Scottish taxpayer depends on where you live, not on your code; residence abroad, split years and tax treaties are not worked out.
• For a Scottish taxpayer the estimate gives the Personal Savings Allowance by the Scottish band of the other income: £500 in the higher and advanced rate bands, none in the top rate band. HMRC works out the allowance on the claim itself.
• MySmartCoPilot is not HMRC and cannot make a claim for you: claims are made only with HMRC, on GOV.UK or by post.

Privacy

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