53 pay days in the year - PAYE underpayment

[The Ghoul]

I made a form 12S tax return (2014) this year for the first time and the balancing statement has come back saying that I underpaid PAYE. I think this is related to "53 pay days in the year". I am trying to figure out if I, my employer or Revenue have made an error.

I'm not actually paid 52 or 53 times per year (although some employees in my organisation are) I am paid fortnightly every 2nd Wednesday. My bank account shows that I was paid on 31st December 2013, a Tuesday. It also shows that I was paid on 2nd January 2015. a Friday

If I go by my bank account, the number of paycheques in 2014 was 25
However if I count up the number of Wednesdays in 2014, there were 27

My P60 has an "X" in the box for 53 pay days.

The P60 figures for Pay for USC Purposes and Total Pay both seem to indicate that I got 27/26ths of my salary. I entered these figures on the Form 12S

The P60 figure for net tax deducted seems to indicate that I paid tax on 26/26ths of my salary. I entered this figure on the Form 12S

When I made the Form12S return, the balancing statement said that I had an underpayment of PAYE. This underpayment is almost exactly 1/26th of the net tax paid.

Can anyone shed any light on what might have happened here and whether I actually underpaid or not.

Thanks a mil!

 

[Sophrosyne]

It probably is due to week 53.

It depends on when each pay date fell and as you say, there were 27 Wednesdays.

According to Revenue's website:

"3. Fortnightly pay
For the purpose of these instructions, fortnightly pay should be regarded as paid on the same weekday throughout the year. For example,where the normal pay day is on every second Friday but one pay day is changed to the previous Thursday, the following day (Friday) should still be regarded as the pay day for the purpose of determining the income tax week."


Are Revenue going to collect the underpayment?