State Pensions – Notification thereof.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Received notification of the pension rise and then notification of my new Tax code, Oh yes, the increase in the pension then deducted from my tax,allowance leave me with £200 worse off. They would have to raise the Tax allowance to make it worthwhile.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I think Chris has more or less got it right, I remember my father having to pay tax on his Post Office pension, and even my mother had to pay a little tax on her widows pension from the Post office when my father died. In my case, I don't pay any tax on my State pension, but my private pension takes me over the the tax free allowance and I get taxed on that, but of course my contributions to my private pension were deducted before my wages were taxed, Everyone who gets an income higher than their tax free allowance is subject to paying income tax, and that's how it's always been since I can remember.

Regards Nick.

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 25/03/2023 22:14:38:

Received notification of the pension rise and then notification of my new Tax code, Oh yes, the increase in the pension then deducted from my tax,allowance leave me with £200 worse off. They would have to raise the Tax allowance to make it worthwhile.

Unfortunately, Clive, not indexing the Personal Allowance in line with inflation is a 'stealth' rise in income tax that the government has imposed in the hope that a majority of people will not notice in the way they would see a rise in the the basic rate of tax to 24% (a figure I think I have seen quoted in the financial column of a national daily) and would find politically unacceptable. Of course, we all know that the purchasing power of our incomes has fallen due to the tax rise, which effects those still working as well as us retirees, plus the effects of inflation.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Whilst I agree that the Government is less than generous regarding allowances and pensions in general, compared to say 50 years ago in the main pensioners are relatively comfortable regarding income. This is largely due to widespread workplace pensions in addition to state pension. Living on state pension alone is tough but fortunately there are relatively few who have to. I fear for the middle aged and younger population who don’t have the same access to reasonable pension schemes such as my age group did. (I am just shy of state pension age but in receipt of a good workplace pension) . Coupled with the clamour for people to dip into their pension pot early I fail to see how some people will cope. I am increasingly convinced that my generation has seen the best of things in pretty much all aspects of life and the next couple of generations down will and are finding things far tougher than we did or do.

regards Martin

[An OtherParticipant @another21905]

After lots of confusion with HM Robbers and Crooks overtaxing me, so I had all the problems of having to claim it back before repaying it, I was told by them that the tax was calculated as 20% of the balance left on the total of my pensions – State, Ex-Service, and a Work pension, less the allowance of 12570 pounds, which seems fairly simple and straightforward to me.

What makes it confusing is that instead of simply holding back the amount I was taxed from the State Pension (obvious solution to me) – they subtracted X from the ex-service pension, and Y from the private pension, and Z from the State pension, where X+Y+Z = 12570. Also not too confusing in itself, but X,Y and Z were never the same proportions from each pension for each year.

That resulted in the usual cockups, and again as usual. HMRC demands the money first, then I had to claim it back – sometimes quite large amounts. (and no interest paid, also as usual).

Dealing with HMRC is a nightmare – I hope no-one has that problem.

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

An Other, funnily enough or not I was told about my pension increase last week and received yesterday a letter from HMRC saying I owed them £1300 from tax year 2020-2021 as I had underpaid my tax, how the hell they waited this length of time I don't know and will be starting an OT thread for advice. I am so, so annoyed and couldn't sleep last night thinking about it.

Tony

[An OtherParticipant @another21905]

Tony – I can only wish you the very best of luck, and my sympathy – HMRC were very difficult to contact – I waited hours on the phone to be put through, then time was wasted having to listen to endless pre-recorded messages. I was NEVER able to talk to the same person twice, so spent hours on the phone just explaining the situation, on some occasions to several people, having been transferred because I was 'talking to the wrong person'.

Their single contact number seems to route you different offices. Don't bother with their idiot online 'chatline" – its useless. It keeps you waiting "until an agent is free", then asks you to log in – while I was doing this, it repeatedly disconnected me and told me no agents were free. When I did finally get to a human being, I was told "we will write to you" – they never did.

I was recommended by a friend to get a financial advisor to deal with it instead of doing it myself. Then I asked what he would charge – It would have been cheaper to make a banknote bonfire.

All I could do was to make damn sure my figures were correct, and keep pressing HMRC – it took me about three years to get it all resolved. A worrying thing was that they make mistakes, but would not admit it, and also that they made repeated errors over a period of about three or four years.

An

Good luck – and don't let them steal your money.

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

I have not had the problems with HMRC that others refer to, they do write to say I have over paid tax from time to time, I do not create an online account as requested , just merely wait for the cheque to arrive a few weeks later.

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

The day of the week you get your state pension depends upon the last digit of your NI number – 0&1 Mon 2&3 Tues etc so perhaps the letters are sent out in batches on the same principle – Who knows????

[Martin Shaw 1Participant @martinshaw1]

Having commented earlier that I hadn't received any notification a letter came in todays post, dated the 11th March, informing me that my state pension had increased by £15.92 a week. Whilst not overly miserable about this I had just returned from the supermarket having paid £4.60 for a tub of Lurpak and a bunch of bananas, it isn't going to go far.

Edited By Martin Shaw 1 on 27/03/2023 12:42:43

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Well, that's nearly an extra half a tub and half a bunch per day!

Who was it said "We've never had it so good"?

Rob

[Ian HewsonParticipant @ianhewson99641]

That’s why we don’t buy Lurpak😁

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Don't believe anything HMRC tell you, I've had them tell me things that were completely wrong. Had to get the MP involved eventually, but I won.

By contrast their website is a really good source of information

[Martin Shaw 1Participant @martinshaw1]

That’s why we don’t buy Lurpak😁

Other butter like spreads are available, however as in most things in life you get what you pay for. I'm quite old enough to remember margarine and how truly disgusting it was and probably still is. I'll stick with just about affordable Lurpak thanks.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by Grindstone Cowboy on 27/03/2023 14:05:12:

Well, that's nearly an extra half a tub and half a bunch per day!

Who was it said "We've never had it so good"?

Rob

It was Supermac, Harold MacMillan the Earl of Stockton.

Mike

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Mike, that's going back a bit!

Martin, my Father in Law used marg to grease his hair!

John

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I was 11 months old when he said it but it obviously stuck in my parents mind as I heard the quote on quite a few occasions.

Mike

[Rob McSweeneyParticipant @robmcsweeney81205]

Going slightly off topic – has anyone here on an NHS pension had a letter about this year's increase?

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Margarine…yum

The missus still uses stork in her baking, makes better sponges apparently

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Well now, still nothing in the post so I decided to telephone The Pension Service – the people who send out the letters. After having negotiated the menus (note the plurality!) and waited the requisite "hang on until one of our agents wakes up – sorry, is free!", I spoke to a man who confirmed that they are still sending out the letters. Anyway, and much to my surprise, I quoted my NI number and he told me firstly how much I would be getting and when it would start. I then quoted my wife's NI number, and even more surprising he quoted her data. So much for privacy!

So, in my case, all's well that ends well, and at least now I can make a start on financial planning for the next 12 months. And then at the end of April, when I receive notification of my works pension, complete it.

Hmmm,

A much surprised, and pleased,

Peter G. Shaw

[Philip RoweParticipant @philiprowe13116]

Curiously enough I received my update letter today, but it was dated 10-03-23 so the wheels of the pension service or the post office move exceedingly slowly. However I'm not complaining about the increase! Phil

[MadMikeParticipant @madmike]

I have followed this thread from the beginning. I am somewhat surprised at all the apparent uncertainty regarding the increase in state Pensions this year. In simple terms it is of the order of 10%, regardless of whether you are on the current "new pension" or, as many on here will likely be, the older scheme.

Tax has always been payable on pensions but by holding the State Pension to below the tax threshold by all governments, the tax has always been co;;ected fro other pensions and/or earnings from continuing employment. It has always been the case I am struggling with some of the comments that have run into three pages of comments on this forum. Back to work on your (insert machinery of choice) and take your mind off of pensions.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

My notification came today better than a kick up the backside

H

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

Me and the Mrs got our notifications today.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

My wife and I received ours on the same day a month ago, on a slightly off topic I got a email from head office about a pay rise, I'm retired but spend twenty hours a fortnight part time delivering medication for a local chemist, I read the email completely to find I'd not had a pay rise all they were doing was giving me the governments increase of the minimum wage, Cheeky Barstewards, cant really complain as its almost £1.00 an hour.

Martin P

[Author]

Posts