Options for paying PAYE underpayment?

Hi All

Anyone know what approach the revenue will take in relation to a PAYE underpayment? I recently got a P21 balancing statent which saide I had underpaid by 2279 as my partner and I moved in together last August and as a result I am no longer entitled to single parent tax credit. This was an honest mistake on my part, I'm not up to speed on this stuff and acknowledge that the money must be paid back.

My question is will the revenue be willing to accomodate the fact that I have no ability to pay this back in a single lump, I have mortgage, child support, loans etc after which my disposable income is very low and zero savings. Would it be possible to work out a repayment plan or have my bands adjusted for a set period until the money was repaid?

Really worried now that my December wages are going to be completely swallowed by them which would leave me in a very bad place.

Any information or advice any of you may have will be very much appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

Hi Nutsy,

What year was the P21 for? You moved in with your partner in August, so you would not be entitled to OPF from then but if you were entitled at any point during the year then you get the credit for the whole year.

Is there an explanation for the underpayment? Is it entirely due to withdrawal of one parent family credit or did you also move job or get another incorrect credit? Or did you not claim a credit in your return which you had claimed during the year? If you like you could post the figures in the P21 and we'll check them out. It's possible that a mistake has been made - check the figures against your final payslip for that year and your P60.

The P21 should say at the bottom how Revenue propose to collect the underpayment. It would be unusual to demand it in a lump sum from a person on not-great salary, more usually it would be collected over a number of years, probably four years by reduction of credits.

Don't worry about December's paycheck, they won't reduce this year's credits this late in the year.

Sybil