Recent reports have announced that over half a million individuals each year are failing to reclaim hundreds of pounds in overpaid income tax.
Last year alone over five million HMRC tax rebate cheques were sent out but as of the beginning of November 2023, 615,383 cheques – with a total value of £217million remaining uncashed.
On average this adds up to around £350 per person with some potentially missing out on thousands of pounds.
In the tax year of 2021 to 2022, a total of 593,367 cheques (out of 4.3 million sent) were issued with a value of £187 million that have not been cashed yet.
Similarly for the tax year 2020 to 2021 there are 640,245 (out of 3.7million sent) cheques worth a combined total of £215 million that remain uncashed.
P800 tax calculation
Every year tax year HMRC sends out by post a P800 tax calculation to individuals who have overpaid income tax.
If you receive a “P800” notification letter from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), informing you about a tax rebate you should firstly read it carefully to check it for accuracy and then secondly review the part about requesting your refund via a bank transfer.
Sometimes HMRC will confirm on your P800 that a cheque is being sent separately in which case you don’t need to take any further action other than wait for the cheque to arrive.
If you don’t follow the process to request a refund via BACS within 21 days HMRC will typically issue a cheque to the address they have on file for you.
How to check and claim your tax rebate online
If you need to double check if you are owed a tax rebate from a past tax year you can login to your personal tax account or the downloadable (via a smartphone) HMRC app.
When checking online you should be able to see any tax rebates that HMRC have calculated and sent to you via post for previous tax years.
This will let you find out if you’ve not received a cheque or remind you that you’ve not banked one you’ve already had and forgotten about.
Either way it means you can request a new cheque or arrange with HMRC for a bank transfer instead.
I have lost my HMRC cheque what should I do?
If you fail to cash your cheque for whatever reason HMRC states that it can be replaced on your request.
To request the reissue of a tax rebate cheque you can reach out to HMRC’s taxes phoneline on 0300 200 3300.
You have an initial six months to cash a cheque before it expires at which point you have to ask HMRC for new cheque to be sent.
There aren’t any official time limits for requesting a new tax rebate cheque but it’s advisable to request a new one as soon as possible.
Always remember your banking app
Most personal bank account apps let you scan a cheque via your phone so you don’t have to visit a branch which is becoming increasingly more difficult these days with so many branches closing.
If you receive an HMRC tax refund cheque and you have a banking app that lets you scan a cheque in then this is a quick and easy way to bank your overpaid tax money.
Update your address with HMRC
If HMRC doesn’t have your current address you are unlikely to receive any tax related correspondence from HMRC which includes a P800 tax calculation and a posted HMRC tax rebate cheque.
To avoid this happening you can easily update your personal address online in your personal tax account, HMRC app or the HMRC change of address form online.
