A UK nurse’s warning to check your tax code comes after she discovered she’d been overpaying income tax by thousands. Gemma Belby, a district nurse from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, only realized the issue after a casual chat with colleagues about their recent pay. She found she was being taxed at a much higher rate than her peers, nearly double in some comparisons.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) took about three months to address the overpayment and ultimately refunded her nearly £3,000 after she initially raised the concern in October. The delay and the conflicting information she received caused significant stress and affected her health.
HMRC has been asked for comment. Legally, individuals are responsible for ensuring their tax payments are correct.
Belby, who is a mother of four, hoped to have the refund before Christmas, but the process proved slow and stressful. She received two markedly different estimates of how much she was owed, which added to the confusion and distress. She described being tearful for extended periods and noted she wanted the money to help her family during the holidays.
She also expressed frustration that HMRC would not pay interest on the overpaid amount, despite her raising the issue in October.
On 19 January, HMRC advised Gemma that she was due a refund of £8,194.96 for the 2024-25 tax year. However, shortly after, an official contacted her to say the figure was incorrect and that the refund would need to be recalculated using her P60 form, which documents the tax paid during the financial year. If the October inquiry had used her P60 data, the refund could have been calculated and issued sooner.
Following the recalculation, HMRC confirmed she was actually owed £2,863.04, which she received at the end of January. Belby’s takeaway is clear: always verify your tax code.
What to check about your tax code
- A tax code determines how much income tax your employer deducts from your salary or pension.
- The most common code for someone with a single job or pension is 1257L, which lets you earn £12,570 before paying tax.
- If you receive company benefits (for example, health insurance), this amount may be reduced.
- If you live in Wales or Scotland, your code may begin with a C or an S.
- You can verify your code using the HMRC tax code checker.
- You can monitor your tax details by creating a personal tax account with HMRC.
Financial journalist Martin Lewis recently highlighted this on his podcast, warning that millions of tax codes are incorrect each year. He stressed that individuals bear the responsibility to ensure their code is accurate, noting that errors can lead to overpayment or a sudden, substantial tax bill.
Lucy Cohen, co-founder of Mazuma, an online accounting firm, explains that tax codes can change for several reasons—such as tax owed from prior years or additional income sources—and acknowledges that administrative mistakes also occur. If your tax code is wrong, she advises communicating with your payroll department if it’s your only employer, or requesting HMRC to correct the code.
Would you double-check your own tax code after reading Gemma’s story? How confident are you that your current code accurately reflects your situation, and what steps would you take to verify it?
