But there really won't be a short time frame for paying.
I have seen a number of these in recent years and the pensioners seems to get them relatively soon after the end of the tax year so have a good 6 months before the payment is due on 31 January.
If no earnings for a number of years can you put more then £2880 in to pension this year by using unused relief from earlier years?
If there are no earnings in the tax year the contribution is being paid in then unused annual allowance is irrelevant, the maximum relief at source contribution which can be made is £2,880 (net).
This will have 25% added by the pension company to make a gross contribution of £3,600.
Whether any tax has been paid in the current tax year is irrelevant as well.
Too late (at night) to be scurrying back to my files ... but my spreadsheet always produces the same figure that HMRC eventually use to pre-populate my tax return.
And, from memory, that's as 'simple' as:
- Note date (as announced by DWP) from which rate changes in that tax year;
- Note 'as at' date of first payment received AFTER 6th April ... and count how many whole days (covered by the 28 days for which payment is in arrears) are:
a) days upto/including 5th April;
b) days from 6th April (inclusive) upto the final date before rate increase;
c) days from date when rate increase first applies to the end of this 4-week period.
It's a lot harder to describe than to process - but it tells me the two things I want to know ... how much of that first payment belongs to the previous tax year + the likely total for the new tax year.
[Note: last item will be inaccurate until my 'allocation check' is repeated in April of the next year - and part of its 1st payment is added back to its previous year].
So why is mine one week at the old rate and 51 at the new?
5th April is a Friday this year, the rate changes on Monday 15th.
HMRC's view of things is here. Covering both "basic" and "new" State pension scenarios.
just the fact of having a company car does not mean you need to complete self-assessment tax returns
i assume that HMRC were not told when your car benefit commenced which has resulted in the tax owed but you have not really given enough information for me to me sure.
I think it's unlikely to be exactly that as I've never heard of this being a reason for a tax return being needed before.
But Car Benefit contributing to becoming liable to HICBC or tapered Personal Allowance would be a reason, rightly or wrongly, why HMRC consider a return should be completed.
Ultimately of course if they issued a notice to file (or return) then that is sufficient whatever the reason.
"HMRC have sent a letter out asking the client's wife to repay them the £746"
I suspect this is where the op is getting confused.
HMRC won't have asked the wife to reply "the" £746.
They will have, for reasons as yet not clear given the very limited information provided, repaid £746 to the wife as part of their annual P800 reconciliation process.
Then the revised RTI information was submitted and the wife has no longer had any tax deducted (per the revised FPS) so the £746 previously repaid to the wife is an over-repayment relating to her personal tax situation.
Why the full £746 was originally repaid only the wife or HMRC can explain.
Note (for OP, Doug will know anyway):
- all those figures are illustrative only and, aside of anything else, may be subject to change at the whim of any passing Chancellor of the Exchequer (as in the Dividend Allowance being halved from 6th April onwards)!
Or it not even being an "Allowance" in the normal sense which could easily impact the op if HICBC is an additional factor they have to contend with (for the current tax year).
And do check your tax code for this and previous years was correct and you didn't overpay tax.
If the op's tax code includes a deduction for Child Benefit then it's 99% likelihood they have been completing Self Assessment returns and any overpayment will have been resolved via their tax return.
To qualify for the new state pension, one needs a minimum 35 years' of NIC. Free NIC credits are attached to some benefits or available in certain circumstances.
Have you thought about getting the client to pay into a private scheme?
Nonsense, it's only 10 years.
35 years is the number relevant to those who start to build up qualifying years from April 2016 onwards.
Everyone else with earlier NI history, like the op's client, is under transitional rules where anything from fewer than 30 years to 50+ years will be needed to reach the standard "new" State Pension.
The op's client really need to check their current accrued amount (easily available on gov.uk) so see exactly what they need to reach £203.85.
My answers
But there really won't be a short time frame for paying.
I have seen a number of these in recent years and the pensioners seems to get them relatively soon after the end of the tax year so have a good 6 months before the payment is due on 31 January.
If there are no earnings in the tax year the contribution is being paid in then unused annual allowance is irrelevant, the maximum relief at source contribution which can be made is £2,880 (net).
This will have 25% added by the pension company to make a gross contribution of £3,600.
Whether any tax has been paid in the current tax year is irrelevant as well.
Their policy, for those unlucky enough not to have interest of £10k or more, is to issue a Simple Assessment.
Or if a tax code can be used to collect the extra tax owed, a P800 calculation.
Not 100% sure what you are trying to get at here.
If the amendment window has passed then there won't be an amendment made to the return.
Have HMRC issued an assessment of some sort or raised a charge on the clients Self Assessment statement of account?
Or are you saying they won't amend the return and are not going to issue an assessment or raise a charge?
What exactly was their response?
HMRC's view of things is here. Covering both "basic" and "new" State pension scenarios.
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/paye-manual/paye76030
I think it's unlikely to be exactly that as I've never heard of this being a reason for a tax return being needed before.
But Car Benefit contributing to becoming liable to HICBC or tapered Personal Allowance would be a reason, rightly or wrongly, why HMRC consider a return should be completed.
Ultimately of course if they issued a notice to file (or return) then that is sufficient whatever the reason.
"HMRC have sent a letter out asking the client's wife to repay them the £746"
I suspect this is where the op is getting confused.
HMRC won't have asked the wife to reply "the" £746.
They will have, for reasons as yet not clear given the very limited information provided, repaid £746 to the wife as part of their annual P800 reconciliation process.
Then the revised RTI information was submitted and the wife has no longer had any tax deducted (per the revised FPS) so the £746 previously repaid to the wife is an over-repayment relating to her personal tax situation.
Why the full £746 was originally repaid only the wife or HMRC can explain.
Or it not even being an "Allowance" in the normal sense which could easily impact the op if HICBC is an additional factor they have to contend with (for the current tax year).
If the op's tax code includes a deduction for Child Benefit then it's 99% likelihood they have been completing Self Assessment returns and any overpayment will have been resolved via their tax return.
Nonsense, it's only 10 years.
35 years is the number relevant to those who start to build up qualifying years from April 2016 onwards.
Everyone else with earlier NI history, like the op's client, is under transitional rules where anything from fewer than 30 years to 50+ years will be needed to reach the standard "new" State Pension.
The op's client really need to check their current accrued amount (easily available on gov.uk) so see exactly what they need to reach £203.85.