A district nurse from Wales has urged workers to check their tax codes after discovering she had overpaid nearly £3,000 in tax. Gemma Belby, a mother of four, found out by accident that she was paying almost double the tax of her colleagues.
Speaking to the BBC, Belby said she became tearful when she realised she was entitled to more money. 'I wanted to spend that money on my children at Christmas and I couldn't do that,' she said. After contacting HMRC, she was initially told she was owed £8,194.96 for the 2024-25 tax year, but a recalculation reduced the refund to £2,863.04, which she received in January.
Belby warned: 'Make sure you check your tax code. Make sure it's right because if it's happened to me I can guarantee it's happening to more people.' Financial expert Martin Lewis echoed the warning, noting that millions of tax codes are wrong each year and that it is the individual's responsibility to ensure their code is correct.
Lucy Cohen, co-founder of accounting firm Mazuma, explained that errors can occur due to genuine admin mistakes or incorrect code issuance. HMRC has not commented on the case.
