Overpaid by accident

Hi all,

Ill keep this short. I have left a company 2 months ago and they have still paid the full salary (60% of it gone with emergency tax). I thought the first month was owed holiday hours and commision. But i got another payment just last week. I reported this with the company and they have told me that i have to pay the gross amount over the two months by the end of this week. Is there a way around this?

Unless there is more to this and some type of error on your part I do not see how they can insist the full sum be paid by the end of the week. You alerted them of the error, you acknowledge the money has to be paid back maybe a reasonable payment plan? I could see that it was not totally unreasonable to think the first payment was money owed.

Personally I would want to get it resolved and not left hanging so it’s either you can afford to repay in a lump sum or you agree a payment option. You did not make the error and have made representation to resolve it depending on the amounts involved a couple of months should get it sorted I would have thought.

I have been told by an accountant in the family that by law i have to pay them back but on my terms. They made the mistake and now the ball is in my court. Would this be a fair statement

Duals21 said:

Would this be a fair statement

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It certainly seems like a fair approach on your part. If the error was on their part then they have some cheek trying to unilaterally dictate some short term ultimatum to you. Tell them how and when you intend to deal with paying it back and tell them to like it or lump it.

Duals21 said:

they have told me that i have to pay the gross amount

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It's up to them to get the taxes back. You don't have to pay them the gross, only the net amount you actually received

Hello,

As a starting point, I agree with Fortune, you should only be liable for the net amount, that you received.

I would seperately contact Revenue and find out how you go about having any tax credits that there applied to these two "salary" payments, reversed.

What have you done with the two payments ? Whatever about the first one, you knew you weren't supposed to have received the second one, so I assume you still have it, and could return that, quite quickly, yes ?

You could then offer to return the first month's payment over an appropriate period, based on your ability to repay (while I wouldn't put myself under particular pressure with these repayments, I also wouldn't "extract the Michael").

You've done the right thing by contacting them, and acknowledging that its not your money to keep. Sadly, they've responded badly, but don't let that stop you from being an honest and decent person.

Also, is there any chance that you may need a reference from this party, in the future?