State pensioner taxpayers

As I see it HMRC have to show you why you have provided the wrong figure not the other way around

Point of information please: what is this 'letter'? I have never seen one. I always work off of the Notice of Coding.As an IFA,I do lots of estate admin, and it is difficult to work out how much the deceased has received in state pension.

info@taxworth.co.uk

Why can't P60s be issued for every pensioner who has been asked to complete a tax return and any pensioner who requests one?

...is usually sent to pensioner in late February or early March detailing the amount to be paid weekly after 5 April in the forthcoming year.

I also note that the HMRC website now sometimes includes State Pension on the "Information to help complete your tax return" link. However I don't know if it's always right.

Who else is at work today????????

It would be good if the form has the same information as the P60s have about it being an important document and should be retained to help with a tax return.

P60s are one way.  But to save costs why can't the P60 info be included on the letter sent out in March advising on the next year's weekly pension payments.

It seems just another problem with Central Government not being joined up...  Mr Cameron your intervention is needed.

With pensions I would think that the death of a pensioner before the year end would be a worry.

The action by HMRC is undertaken under the authority of S.9ZB TMA 1970,  That section has within it an option to the taxpayer formally to resile from the HMRC amendment which, if done within the statutory 30 day time limit, provides HMRC with no powers to do anything other than to restore the SA return to its original state and then, if they so wish, raise an enquiry into the return under s,9A TMA 1970.  At that point, of course, the burden of responsibility is indeed on the taxpayer to demonstrate that the tax return is correct.  However, for them to insist on the taxpayer providing proof without issuing a s.9A notice is cutting corners without authority.

If they have any sense (yes, I know ...) then the fact that the taxpayer has resiled from the revision might just give them pause to wonder at the accuracy of the information from which they have issued the amendment and then to consider the time, effort and resources that would be devoted to a s.9A enquiry for the sake of £100 tax.

With kind regards

Clint Westwood

Anna the most common errors are where state pension is first received, HMRC have I notice assessed 52 weeks in the past for the first year.

Another client error is asuming state pension is paid monthly (12) rather than 4 weekly (13).

I would never take the coding notice as HMRC only ever get the starting figure - and no annual updates or totals.

Ask to see the May or June bank statement - it will have the four weekly figure for that year.

The increase is applied from around the 10th of the month so one week old rate 51 of new is the amount received. It has been common practice on the past when reporting to just use 13x the figure as the difference is not usually more than a pound or two!

Oppco is right about phoning DWP to get the informatioon - this used to work well, but they no longer recognise 64-8 agent authorisation, and will only release the information if they have received prior written approval from the pensioner, and this has to be renewed every year. This is disappointing, as it was a very useful source of information for getting information correct for self assessment returns.

So, how would they have collected the +£100if you had filed their letter WPB?

I wonder if any one else has found the benefit of using the website

www.tell-hmrc.com

which allows members to state the correct amount of State Pension received, which means that PAYE Coding has to be adjusted which means that underpayments should be reduced. There is the added bonus that any failure to change the Code Number will make for an interesting discussion with the Adjudicator’s office, as there is Proof of Notification.