Umbrella company not filing taxes

[bonita]

Hi!

I recently started using an umbrella company for the first time since I am freelancing for a short period only.

I only realised 3 pay slips in that I had been paying employer and employee NI but no tax. The contract my agency set up with the umbrella company specifically says they are responsible for both NI and tax.

I tried to get in touch with them but had a tough time getting through, then was told my representative is no longer part of the company and I had to contact customer services. This was on Friday, so I haven't heard from them since.

I was wondering if anyone knows whether there is any way I can "punish" my umbrella company, as this is a breach of contract. Would I be able to get fees reimbursed, or even make the umbrella company responsible for paying me the tax amount?

Would love to hear any advice.

Many thanks!

[NotAllThere]

Please don't post again until you've had contact with your umbrella company and they've explained themselves. At the moment you simply haven't given enough information for a meaningful answer.

[ASB]

Since you are obviously looking for a confrontation from the language you chose you use I am sure you can caus a good one when you get in touch with them.

Though if it were me I might think that they are possibly able to run a payroll. That the deduction of nil may have happened for a reason. That might pique my interest to try and find out what had happened. Who knows it might just be possible there was something I had missed.

But that would be a reasonable view and obviously not your way.

Publish the figures from your last p45 and the earnings and your current tax code. That would enable anybody (including yourself) to work out what tax should have been deducted.

edit: if it does turn out that they have made an error then reimbursement of fees is probably reasonable recompense for the inconvenience. Though that is far more likely to happen with a conciliatory approach.

[northernladuk]

I was wondering if anyone knows whether there is any way I can "punish" my umbrella company,

You could stay as one of their customers

[Contreras]

HMRC are quite capable of doing the punishing when they want to.

As far as HMRC are concerned, PAYE taxes are the responsibility of the employer.

The advice: it's not clear that tax was underpaid but... be truthful on your tax return, if HMRC ever ask for one.

[lucyclarityumbrella]

Hi!

I only realised 3 pay slips in that I had been paying employer and employee NI but no tax. The contract my agency set up with the umbrella company specifically says they are responsible for both NI and tax.

I would question how they are doing this anyway - every umbrella company should make payments via RTI (Real Time Information) every time a payment is made, therefore if HMRC see that a change to the tax code is required to compensate for any unpaid taxes this should have come through by now. I would ask them to confirm the payments are being reported - just a thought!