u/Ganjalligator

Hi all, hoping someone can help because I’m getting nowhere with this.

Basically my employer is reporting a higher income to HMRC than what I actually receive in my bank, and it’s now affecting my Universal Credit.

I have a Deduction from Earnings Order (DEO) taken from my wages every month. This comes out after tax, NI and pension.

The issue is when I compare what I actually receive (my payslip net pay) to what HMRC has on record (which Universal Credit uses), there’s a consistent difference each month that lines up with the DEO deduction.

So it’s like the DEO just doesn’t exist as far as the reported figure goes.

I’ve spoken to HMRC and they told me they can only see what the employer submits and can’t change it. They said if there’s a mismatch, it needs to be looked at by payroll. I’ve also spoken to the company that issued the DEO and they’ve said they only apply the deduction and have nothing to do with payroll reporting.

My employer is basically saying everything is correct because DEOs are post-tax, so they don’t affect what gets reported. But that doesn’t really help me because Universal Credit is using the higher figure, and I’m losing money each month because of it.

I feel like I’m stuck in a loop where payroll says it’s correct (technically it is because what they report is in line with RTI), HMRC says speak to payroll, and Universal Credit just uses whatever HMRC has.

Has anyone dealt with something like this before?