My Grand-daughter is a student and has been working amongst other jobs for a well known supermarket up until 3 weeks ago when they made her redundant.
She was only there for about 4 months but the wages she got were very good and she paid a lot of income tax, but her earnings have been well below her personal allowances (tax free pay) for the year.
Can she claim her tax payments back from HMRC, we are talking about £150-£200.
Yes she can. Students can actually get a form to fill in for an employer so that they are exempted from tax straight away until they reach their limit. She might be wise to look into this for future employment.
To be honest I can't remember whether it is the student themselves or the company that gets the form and fills it in. But I remember this because my son did it for two summers when he was a student.
You don't always have to wait until the end of the tax year - there is a form you can filll in to declare you won't earn any more in the tax year (I know because I completed one- a P fifty something), but some tax offices in my experience still make students wait until the end of the tax year just in case they find another job.... but as that's only a few weeks away then I suggest she just waits a few weeks then phones HMRC