Tax refunded or off-set

Hi there, I am slightly confused about the "tax refunded or off-set" section on my self assessment and whether I need to fill it out or not. I am both self-employed and employed. I work 2 PAYE jobs and for one of them I was paying income tax contributions over the course of the year (came to £299 total). I didn't request it or put in a claim, but over time the amount of tax that I had paid was incrementally paid back to me as shown on my payslips (ranging from £2-120 each month). I don't know if this was because some months my pay was less? So technically, I have had tax refunded/off-set but it has been off-set to £0 so I haven't actually paid any tax on either of my jobs and therefore haven't gained any money from a tax rebate either. The P60s for both of my PAYE jobs show £0 for amount of tax paid for the 23-24 tax year. After filling out my self-employed earnings, my calculation showed that I do owe tax once this value was combined with my PAYE earnings - as I expected and had already calculated. However, if I answered 'yes' to the tax refunded/off-set question it added the £299 to my tax owed total which means I would be paying more tax than I actually owe. The calculation showed the 19% of my taxable income that I need to pay + Class 2 NIC which I am voluntarily paying but then added on the £299 also. Is that right? That seems to me that I would be paying extra tax for what I've actually earned. If I selected 'no' for the tax refunded/off-set question, the calculation showed just the 19% of my taxable income that I need to pay + Class 2 NIC which I am voluntarily paying. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated as I am little unsure of what is best to do in terms of correctly filling out my self assessment. Thanks, Catherine

Hi cbarrett98,
You almost certainly do not need to enter £299 in this box - this tax amount being refunded to you gradually through the year was to ensure that, by the end of the tax year, you had paid the correct amount of tax.
The 'tax refunded or set-off' box is to report lump sum refunds of tax received through PAYE after that tax year has finished.
To confirm that you do not need to declare the £299, though we would need to review your record.
Please  contact us by webchat or phone here:
Self Assessment: general enquiries
Thank you.