Hi All,

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, but I can't find any help anywhere 
else.

I'm a student, and employed seasonally by a theme park.

I pay tax, often too much and thus end up with a refund at the end of the 
tax year.

However, should the same not be true of national insurance? Using the 
calculator at http://www.listentotaxman.com/ I believe I should be entitled 
to a refund, however HMRC say not. Could someone explain this please?

Many thanks

"Dr. Compynei" <compynei*isnt*@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:g1gquc$43l$1@registered.motzarella.org...
> Hi All,
>
> Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, but I can't find any help
> anywhere else.
>
> I'm a student, and employed seasonally by a theme park.
>
> I pay tax, often too much and thus end up with a refund at the end of the
> tax year.
>
> However, should the same not be true of national insurance? Using the
> calculator at http://www.listentotaxman.com/ I believe I should be
> entitled to a refund, however HMRC say not. Could someone explain this
> please?
>
> Many thanks
>
>


You get a tax refund because your total earnings in the year are reduced by
your full-year's Personal Allowance (the tax free bit) - even if you've only 
worked for part of the year.

Sadly, NI doesn't work on the same ("cumulative") basis (unless you're a 
company director).

So you pay NI on all income in the "pay period" (usually monthly or weekly),
less the [weekly or monthly] "NI free" bit.  And you can't get it back at
the end of the year.

If you're paid weekly, and you can persuade your employer to pay monthly [or 
even quarterly...] instead, you may save a bit of NI.


HTH

-- 
Martin

Martin wrote:
> "Dr. Compynei" <compynei*isnt*@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> news:g1gquc$43l$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, but I can't find any help
>> anywhere else.
>>
>> I'm a student, and employed seasonally by a theme park.
>>
>> I pay tax, often too much and thus end up with a refund at the end
>> of the tax year.
>>
>> However, should the same not be true of national insurance? Using the
>> calculator at http://www.listentotaxman.com/ I believe I should be
>> entitled to a refund, however HMRC say not. Could someone explain
>> this please?
>>
>> Many thanks
>>
>>
>
>
> You get a tax refund because your total earnings in the year are
> reduced by your full-year's Personal Allowance (the tax free bit) -
> even if you've only worked for part of the year.
>
> Sadly, NI doesn't work on the same ("cumulative") basis (unless
> you're a company director).
>
> So you pay NI on all income in the "pay period" (usually monthly or
> weekly), less the [weekly or monthly] "NI free" bit.  And you can't
> get it back at the end of the year.
>
> If you're paid weekly, and you can persuade your employer to pay
> monthly [or even quarterly...] instead, you may save a bit of NI.

Fantastic, I did wonder if that was the case. Thanks very much for clearing 
that up.

And thanks rip off Britain :-)

Dr. Compynei wrote:

> I pay tax, often too much and thus end up with a refund at the end of the
> tax year.
> 
> However, should the same not be true of national insurance? Using the
> calculator at http://www.listentotaxman.com/ I believe I should be
> entitled to a refund, however HMRC say not. Could someone explain this
> please?

No, because National Insurance is charged weekly, whereas tax is charged
annually.