Hands holding up a green card with "Tax Refund" written on it
Tax refunds now need to be claimed, but watch out for scams

After the end of each tax year, HMRC carry out a reconciliation exercise to make sure employees have paid the correct amount of tax.

Given the number of taxpayers HMRC need to do this for, and the breadth of data that needs to be taken into account (which might include employment income, taxable benefits, bank interest, regular charitable donations, and Child Benefit receipts), this process can take several months.

Where a repayment of tax is due, HMRC might previously have sent a cheque by default. However, to combat fraud and repayment error, HMRC are no longer sending repayments automatically. Instead, employees should receive a text message or letter informing them that they’re due a tax refund. They will then need to proactively claim the repayment.

The easiest way to check and claim the refund is by using one of the following HMRC digital services:

Taxpayers can also contact HMRC if they can’t use one of the digital services, or prefer not to.

Fraudsters have been known to send bogus notifications that tax repayments are due in order to trick taxpayers into sharing their confidential information. It’s therefore important to check any instructions on text messages or letters purporting to be from HMRC carefully, to ensure they signpost the official HMRC repayment claim methods listed above. If you are uncertain you may wish to log into your personal tax account or app directly rather than following any links in emails or texts. HMRC also publish guidance on how to check tax communications are genuine.

 

This article reflects the position at the date of publication. If you are reading this at a later date you are advised to check that that position has not changed in the time since.  

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