Readers’ forum: How to rectify PAYE applied in wrong year

Tax year

I am employed by a UK university as an external examiner. My terms and conditions state my fees are payable on submission of my end-of-year report and payment will be made 45 working days from that date.

In terms of ITEPA 2003 s 18 I acquired the right to earnings on report submission at the end of December 2021 and became entitled to payment within 45 working days of that date which would have been on or before 3 March 2022.

If my pay is correctly reported for PAYE in the 2021-22 tax year I will have no tax to pay as I will not have earned the minimum required for taxation.

However if it is reported in 2022-23 I will be liable to hundreds of pounds of tax on the payment. Payroll made an error and did not pay...