If you’ve recently lost your job or been made redundant, you might be able to claim back some of the tax you paid while you were working. This is known as getting a ‘tax refund’ or ‘tax rebate’.
What’s in this guide
How to claim tax back after redundancy or losing your job
Step 1 – Are you due a tax rebate?
You might be due a refund if you answer ‘yes’ to all of the questions below.
- Were you dismissed or made redundant part way through the tax year? Tax years start on 6 April and end on the following 5 April.
- Were you employed and paying tax through PAYE (Pay As You Earn)?
- Are you still out of work?
How much you can get back will depend on:
- how much you earned since the tax year started
- how much tax you paid on those earnings and any other income.
Step 2 – Check how much tax you’re owed
There’s a simple tax checker tool on the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) website.
It should only take a few minutes to find out roughly how much money you can claim.
Before using the tax checker, you’ll need to gather some paperwork, such as payslips and bank statements – but that’s all explained on their website.
Step 3 – Claim your tax back
How you go about getting your refund will depend on:
- how long you’ve been unemployed
- whether you’ve claimed any taxable benefits since losing your job
- whether you found another job within at least four weeks of your last paid day of employment.
If you’re claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or other taxable benefits
If you’ve claimed any taxable benefits since losing your job, the Benefit Office will pay your refund.
This is because the tax you’re paying on your benefits affects how much you owe overall.
Taxable benefits include Jobseeker’s Allowance and Carer’s Allowance.
You’ll need to send the Benefit Office parts 2 and 3 of your P45 to claim your tax refund. It’s important to keep part 1A for your records.
They’ll work out your refund and pay it either after the end of the tax year or after you stop claiming taxable benefits – whichever comes first.
Are you claiming Universal Credit?
As Universal Credit isn’t a taxable benefit, you may be able to claim any overpayment of tax from HRMC once you’ve been unemployed for at least four weeks beginning with your last day of service for which you received final payment from your previous employer.
Claim a tax refund – and check which state benefits are taxableOpens in a new window and which aren’t at GOV.UK.
If you start a new job in the meantime, your new employer will refund any tax you’re owed through PAYE (Pay As You Earn).
Just give them parts 2 and 3 of your P45 – keeping part 1A for your records. You’ll get your refund with your pay.
Give parts 2 and 3 of your P45 to your new employer to claim your tax refund.
If you’ve been unemployed for at least four weeks
- You can claim a tax refund by filling in form P50. Download form P50 from the GOV.UK website
- Contact HMRC before filling in the form, and they’ll tell you what other information you need to provide. Do this via the GOV.UK website or call 0300 200 3300.
- Send this to HMRC with parts 2 and 3 of your P45.
You should get your refund in the post within the tax year.
Tax on your redundancy money
Your redundancy pay is tax free up to £30,000.
But if your redundancy money includes holiday pay or pay in lieu of notice you’ll have to pay tax on that part as you would on your normal pay.
It’s important to never assume your employer has got the calculations right.
The tax deducted could be too much or too little – and it’s up to you to notify HMRC. You can do this on the GOV.UK website
