How do I claim a tax refund?

If you have paid too much tax, or ‘overpaid’ tax, and you complete a tax return, HMRC will send you a repayment once they have processed your tax return.

If you are not within self assessment, that is, you do not complete a tax return, you can still claim back overpaid tax.

You can claim some refunds via your Personal Tax Account (PTA), go to www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account to register. Once you have an account, to claim a refund you have to search first for the form you want, for example P53Z and use this link to open your PTA.

What information is in this section?

Claiming back a straightforward overpayment of tax should usually be easy enough to do yourself. But exactly how you do it depends on the type of income you have. Choose the section that applies to you.

We also look at tax refund companies and explain why you should be careful of them..

What are the time limits for claiming back tax?

You have four years from the end of the tax year in which the overpayment arose to claim a refund, as shown below. If a claim is not made within the time limit you will lose out on any refund that may be due.

Tax year 2016/17 (year ended 5 April 2017) - claim by 5 April 2021

Tax year 2017/18 (year ended 5 April 2018) - claim by 5 April 2022

Tax year 2018/19 (year ended 5 April 2019) - claim by 5 April 2023

Tax year 2019/20 (year ended 5 April 2020) - claim by 5 April 2024

Tax year 2020/21 (year ended 5 April 2021) - claim by 5 April 2025