P800 Refund: What Your Letter Means & What to Do Next (2025/26)

A P800 letter shows your tax position for a specific tax year. The key thing to check first is whether it says you have overpaid or underpaid. This decides your next step.

• Overpayment — you paid more tax than you owed. The letter should show a refund amount. This means you may be able to claim money back.
• Underpayment — you paid less tax than you owed. The letter shows how much you still owe. HMRC usually collects this through your tax code, but in some cases you may need to pay directly.
• Check the tax year shown on the letter. If it is the wrong year or you do not recognise the employer or income source, contact HMRC before doing anything else.
• The letter may also show a "code change" — this means HMRC is adjusting your tax code for the current year to recover the underpayment automatically. You may not need to take any action.

The size of the overpayment and how HMRC handles it both affect what happens next. Not every overpayment requires you to claim manually.

• Automatic refund (small amounts) — if HMRC says they will send the money directly, you do not need to claim. A cheque usually arrives within 14 days, or a bank transfer within 5 working days.
• Claim required (larger amounts) — if the letter says you need to claim, use the official GOV.UK route. This is usually for amounts where HMRC wants you to confirm your bank details.
• No refund shown — if the letter only mentions a code change or says "no action needed", there may be no refund to claim. The adjustment happens through your PAYE tax code.
• If the amount looks wrong or you do not understand why you overpaid, do not claim yet. Contact HMRC first through the Income Tax helpline.

Work through each item below before you enter any personal or banking details on any website.

• Confirm the letter is from HMRC — check the tax year, your name, and the format against the P800 letter guide.
• Check whether it shows an overpayment (refund due) or an underpayment (tax still owed).
• Only use the official GOV.UK route to claim — type the address yourself rather than clicking a link.
• Do not click links in unexpected texts, emails or social media messages about tax refunds.
• Keep a copy of the letter or confirmation screen for your records.

Scam messages often rely on urgency and official-sounding wording. Knowing what HMRC does not do helps you spot fakes quickly.

• HMRC will not text you about a refund with a link to click.
• HMRC will not ask for your bank details by email.
• HMRC will not threaten you with arrest or legal action in a text message.
• HMRC will not ask you to download an app or file to receive a refund.

Tax refund scams are one of the most common phishing types in the UK. They usually arrive by text or email and try to make you act quickly without checking.

• A text saying "HMRC: you are due a tax refund of £XXX — claim here" with a shortened link.
• An email that looks like GOV.UK but the sender address is not from a .gov.uk domain.
• A page that asks for your bank details before confirming what the refund is for.
• A message that creates urgency — "claim within 24 hours or lose your refund".

The safest approach is to start from GOV.UK directly. The official P800 refund page is www.gov.uk/p800refund. If you reached a page through a search engine, check that the address bar clearly shows .gov.uk before entering anything.

If you are unsure whether a link is genuine, compare it with the official links guide before continuing.

If a message arrives by text or email first, or if a page looks unusual, stop and double-check the official GOV.UK route. Tax refunds are a common target for scam messages that rely on urgency, copied wording and official-sounding branding.

Be especially careful if a page pushes you to act immediately, asks for unusual details too early, or tries to make you feel that a refund will be lost unless you respond at once.