UK Student Tax Refunds – Are You Owed Money?

How to Claim Back UK Student Tax Refunds

As a student paying tax in the UK, you may be confused about paying the right amount; do you feel you have overpaid on your tax return and want to claim back UK tax? In this article, we offer you a step-by-step guide to understanding your UK tax return commitments and how to claim back UK tax refunds. 

Try our UK Tax Refund Calculator

We know as a student juggling studies and part-time work, paying tax can be rather confusing, which is why our friendly tax accountants at Taxback have happily put many students on the right income tax path and helped claim hundreds of pounds in overpaid UK student tax refunds. Here’s some advice!

Related Post: New rules for Filing Tax Returns in the UK

Do Students Pay Tax? – Are You Eligible for a Student Tax Refund?

As a professional tax consultant agency in the UK, we know that over 67% of students are employed part-time. While you may not be required to pay council tax, you will have to pay income tax. 

Income tax is the amount of tax due from your part-time job. Income tax is deducted automatically as PAYE tax if you are employed, the amount deducted will be shown on your payslip. If you are self-employed, such as earning an income being a proof-reader for fellow students, dog sitting etc. you will have to do a self-assessment tax return online to see how much tax you owe HMRC.

While this procedure is automatic and done online, most times students pay UK income tax without proper knowledge of exactly how much they owe HMRC in tax returns. Hence students often have hundreds of pounds due to them as refunds for over-paid tax. Here are some instances you may have overpaid UK tax return.

Related post: International Student Tax Refunds – What You Need to Know

You Have Paid Too Much Tax on Your Pay Due to Being on the Wrong Tax Code

If you suddenly notice that you have over-paid tax on your current job, the simplest reason is probably due to being under the wrong ‘tax-code’! You can check online for the correct tax code you fall under. Or talk to us and lets set matters right! 

You Paid Too Much Tax on Your Previous Job

Once you leave a job, your employer must give you a P45 form (the law demands it) this form will show you the total amount of tax paid to HMRC for the previous tax year. Use the ‘UK tax calculator’ to check that you have paid the correct amount. If you have overpaid, you may claim back overpaid UK tax online using your PAYE reference number.

You Overpaid Tax on Your Savings Account Interest

You can only be charged a tax on your savings account interest if the amount exceeds the set rate. The current personal savings allowance is £1,000 annually; meaning you pay tax only if your interest exceeds this amount annually. Since most UK students fall under basic pay, it’s quite unlikely you exceed the personal allowance rate. However, most banks automatically deduct a 20% tax on interest, you need to keep track of this and make sure you don’t lose money on undue deductions. 

We know all these little details are tedious to keep track of but reclaiming what’s owed to you in UK student tax refunds will earn you valuable cashback; if following up seems tedious do consult our accountants, our fees in comparison to your due tax refunds may turn out to be quite minimal, let’s talk today!

Related Post: How Do You Claim UK Tax Back?

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