Working While a Student

Its not uncommon for students to take on a job while getting an advanced education. Paying your way through college or university is often an excellent strategy when compared to the continual high costs and challenges of paying back student loans.

Many students are known to work extra hard during the months away from school to save up enough money to get them through the school year. These holiday times are often filled with day and evening jobs where students do anything they can to earn extra income. Its also all too common for these working students to fail to properly fill out their tax documentation and end up paying too much in taxes. Students that work only during holiday times often need to fill out a P38(S) form.

The P38(S) Form

The UK has created tax provisions for students that only work during holiday times. This applies to students studying in the UK or abroad and provides them different tax rules. A P38(S) Student Employees tax form should be completed and signed by working students so that they can be paid without the deduction of income tax.

For Students, the ability to keep pay that otherwise would have been applied to income tax can be extremely helpful during the school year. Unfortunately, this process is not always completed by students and P38(S) Forms are not properly filled out or filed.

If you were a holiday only working student and failed to file P38(S) then you most likely overpaid your taxes.

Reclaiming Your Overpaid Tax

The HMRC provides guidance to individuals that have not properly completed form P38(S) Stuendent Employees. Their site describes the simple steps that you can take reclaim your taxes.

The steps include reaching out to HMRC and explaining why you believe you overpaid your taxes. Often this is done through letter or other written communication. When communicating with the HMRC it is important to sound professional and that your writing and grammar are clear and correct. Its advisable to use a grammar check tool to review your document to ensure that you haven’t made any grammatical mistakes that may confuse the individuals reviewing your taxes at HMRC.

After following the steps provided by HMRC you may receive the taxes you previously overpaid.