Check If HMRC Owes You Money

Use the overpaid tax checker above

Pop your income and tax-paid figures into the calculator above and it estimates whether HMRC owes you money this tax year. Treat the result as a guide that tells you whether it is worth digging into your payslips, your P60 or your Personal Tax Account, not as a guaranteed refund amount.

When does HMRC actually owe you money?

The honest answer most refund adverts skip: HMRC does not hand out money as a favour. You get a refund only when you have paid more tax than the law actually required for your real income over the year. That happens far more often than people think. The most common reasons you may be owed money are:

• You were put on an emergency tax code when you started a job, so too much was deducted before your real code caught up.
• You stopped working or changed jobs part-way through the year, so your tax-free Personal Allowance was not fully used.
• You had the wrong tax code all year (for example a code that ignored your full Personal Allowance, or taxed a benefit you no longer get).
• You never claimed tax relief on work expenses such as a uniform, professional fees, or business mileage in your own car.
• You are eligible for Marriage Allowance or higher-rate pension tax relief and never claimed it.
• You paid tax on savings interest that was actually covered by your Personal Savings Allowance.

If you recognise any of these, it is genuinely worth checking. You can usually go back four tax years to reclaim overpaid tax, so a refund can cover more than just the current year.

How the overpaid tax check works

The maths behind "does HMRC owe me money" is a comparison. You work out the tax you should have paid on your real income for the year, then compare it with the tax that was actually taken. If the actual figure is higher, the difference is your overpayment.

In words:

Refund due = Tax actually deducted − Tax legally due on your real income

The "tax legally due" part uses your tax-free Personal Allowance and the income tax bands. For England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2026/27 the first £12,570 is normally tax-free, then 20% applies to the next slice of taxable income up to £37,700, 40% from there up to £125,140, and 45% above that. The reason overpayments happen is that PAYE guesses your tax across the year on a month-by-month basis. If your income drops, stops, or your code is wrong, those monthly guesses add up to more than your real annual bill, and HMRC owes you the difference.

If you live in Scotland, the same idea applies but your non-savings income is taxed using the Scottish bands and rates (starter, basic, intermediate, higher, advanced and top), while your Personal Allowance stays the UK-wide £12,570. The principle of comparing tax paid against tax due is identical; only the band rates change. You can sanity-check a Scottish position with our Scotland tax calculator.

Worked example: a refund after leaving a job mid-year

Imagine you are a nurse on a £30,000 salary, paid £2,500 a month. You work from April to September, then take an extended career break and earn nothing for the rest of the tax year.

While you were working, PAYE assumed you would earn £30,000 across the whole year. Each month it gave you one-twelfth of your Personal Allowance (£12,570 ÷ 12 = £1,047.50) and taxed the rest at 20%:

• Taxable each month: £2,500 − £1,047.50 = £1,452.50
• Tax each month: £1,452.50 × 20% = £290.50
• Over 6 months: £290.50 × 6 = £1,743 paid

But your real income for the year was only £15,000. The tax actually due is:

• Taxable income: £15,000 − £12,570 = £2,430
• Tax due: £2,430 × 20% = £486

So you paid £1,743 but only owed £486. HMRC owes you £1,743 − £486 = £1,257. After the tax year ends, HMRC often reconciles this automatically and sends a P800 letter, but it can be slow, and if it does not arrive you can claim it yourself.

Worked example: claiming back through Marriage Allowance

Now picture a couple. You earn £11,000, below the £12,570 Personal Allowance, so part of your allowance is wasted. Your partner earns £35,000 and is a basic-rate taxpayer. Marriage Allowance lets you transfer £1,260 of your unused allowance to them.

That cuts your partner's tax by £1,260 × 20% = £252 for the year. Because the claim can be backdated up to four tax years, a first-time claim can be worth several hundred pounds in one go. Run your own numbers through the Marriage Allowance calculator to see if you qualify.

2026/27 rates and thresholds the check uses

These are the England, Wales and Northern Ireland figures the estimate is based on, checked for the 2026/27 tax year against gov.uk.

Source: gov.uk income tax rates and allowances. Scottish income tax bands differ; the Personal Allowance is the same UK-wide.

How to actually claim what you are owed

Finding a possible overpayment is only half the job. Here is what to do next:

• Check your tax code first. Most overpayments start with a duff code. Compare the code on your payslip with what it should be, and if you started a job recently look at whether you were on an emergency code. Our tax code checker and emergency tax calculator help you spot this.
• Use your Personal Tax Account. Sign in at gov.uk to check your Income Tax. It shows your estimated income, your code, and any refund HMRC has already worked out.
• Wait for, or chase, a P800. After the tax year ends HMRC reconciles PAYE and may send a P800 or a simple assessment showing a refund you can claim online. Your P60 end-of-year figures are the numbers to cross-check it against.
• Claim work expenses directly. Uniform laundry, professional subscriptions and business mileage can be claimed through your account or on a tax return. See the work expense tax rebate calculator for an estimate.
• File a Self Assessment if you need to. Self-employed people and those with more complex income reclaim overpayments through their return rather than a P800.

You can claim a refund directly with HMRC for free. You do not need a paid "tax refund company" taking a cut, and you should never share your Government Gateway details with one.

Common mistakes that hide a refund (or trigger a scam)

A few things trip people up when they check if HMRC owes them money:

• Assuming PAYE is always right. It is an estimate during the year. A wrong code can quietly cost you for months before it corrects.
• Forgetting the four-year window. You can usually reclaim overpaid tax for up to four previous tax years, so do not only look at this year.
• Missing higher-rate pension relief. If you pay into a personal pension and are a higher-rate taxpayer, you often need to claim the extra 20% relief yourself; it is not always given automatically.
• Overpaying on savings interest. Basic-rate taxpayers get £1,000 of interest tax-free under the Personal Savings Allowance; if tax was wrongly applied you can reclaim it.
• Falling for refund scams. HMRC never texts or emails you a link to "claim your tax refund now". Genuine refunds appear in your Personal Tax Account or arrive by post. If in doubt, check the official guidance from MoneyHelper and report suspicious messages.

If you also want to see whether you are paying too much going forward, the how much tax am I overpaying tool looks at it from the other direction.

These figures are estimates for guidance only and are not personal tax or financial advice. Check your own position with HMRC or a qualified adviser before making a claim.

Related calculators

Carry on checking your position with the tax rebate checker, estimate a specific repayment with the tax refund calculator, or confirm your overall liability using the income tax calculator.