Claiming an Income Tax Rebate If You are Unemployed

If you might be unemployed then you may be able to claim what is most likely to be a much required income tax refund from the tax man.

Assuming you were working during a tax year but were then made redundant for whatever reason, you may probably claim some dollars back since of the way our program works.

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) assumes you will be working the full tax year and taxes you accordingly. However, if you're created redundant or end up unemployed for any other reason (it doesn't matter in case you had been fired), then you won't have worked a full tax year and so may be due a rebate.

You will have received a P45 when you left your job (or soon after). To calculate should you may be due a tax refund, enter the gross pay to date and tax paid into this tax rebate calculator.

Do bear in mind, however, that if you've been claiming Jobseekers Allowance that this will count towards your basic income tax free allowance as well as any income earned in the same tax year.

Even if you've been unemployed for more than a year, you could still be entitled to some kind of income tax rebate as you are able to claim back as far as six years currently. You could have been on the wrong tax code throughout that time and paid too significantly tax that way. You might be still entitled to it and any rebate would be useful.

It will take 4-8 weeks to claim an income tax refund if you're unemployed, depending on the backlog at your tax office.