Half of Employees Unsure How Much Income Tax They Pay

March 1, 2011 - PRLog -- British workers could be paying too much income tax and be unaware of the fact, as new research from the UK’s leading discount website has found that 57% don’t know what their tax code is, or how much is deducted from their wages each month.  

www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk conducted the poll in a bid to discover more about people’s understanding of their finances and their knowledge of where their money ends up. 1,771 employed people in the UK subsequently took part and each was asked questions surrounding their monthly wages and how closely they monitored their money.

When asked, ‘Do you know what your tax code is and/or how much income tax you pay on a monthly basis?’ 57% of the people polled answered ‘no.’ Similarly, 43% of those polled by MyVoucherCodes.co.uk admitted that they did not know how much National Insurance they paid every month.

In a bid to discover more about how well Britons manage their money, http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk asked respondents ‘Do you check that the money leaving your account each month, for example by direct debit, is the correct amount and not too much?’ Three quarters, 74%, answered ‘no,’ meaning that people could be losing out on money that should actually be theirs to keep.

When asked, ‘Would you know if someone was using your bank details fraudulently?’ a quarter, 24%, said ‘probably not’. These respondents were then asked why this was the case, to which half (52%) said that they ‘don’t check their account enough.’

Mark Pearson, chairman of http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, commented on the findings;

“It’s vital that people keep on top of their finances and know everything they can about how much money is leaving their account and have much is deducted from their wages each month. More often than not, employees can end up with the wrong tax code, especially if they are put on emergency tax when starting a new job. If this isn’t sorted out, people end up more out of pocket than they should be. Even though you can then claim this tax back, it isn’t ideal and it’s better to get it sorter sooner rather than later.

“We were surprised to find that so many didn’t even know how much of their earnings were taken in tax every month. You’d think that people would want to know where their hard earned cash was ending up. We would advise that it’s very important to know what is happening with your cash, so it’s easier to spot a mistake if the situation presents itself.”
LINK http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk

ENDS

For more information, contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis Public Relations Agency on shannon@10yetis.co.uk or 01452 348211.

Editor’s Notes

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 30, his personal worth is more than £30 million. Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.

Mark appeared as a ‘Secret Millionaire’ in the series on Channel 4, in which he donated £115,000 of his own money to worthy causes.

MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year

Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.

MyVoucherCodes is the UK’s most popular discount site.