UK Pensions (2018)

[evadgib]

Of interest to the board:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/investigatory-powers-tribunal-appeals-route-introduced

[dick dasterdly]

On 12/4/2018 at 7:53 PM, billzant said:

Evadgib, I welcome a pensions dashboard especially if it has a contact form. Pension dashboard works well with my job pension.

I think there is a serious problem communicating with the state pensions people. I prefer letters. Last year I had reason to send a letter. You never know whether it has arrived. I asked their twitter account if they would acknowledge receipt of the letter, they refused. In the letter I asked if they would email a receipt notice, no acknowledgement. In the end I phoned. The lady was extremely helpful and efficient, and in our conversation she mentioned the letter was in a queue - by this time at least 3 months. Unfortunately the phone connection was lost, and I couldn't phone back because it was a menu system and I wouldn't get the person I had spoken to.

 

And of course I was paying for the phone call!!

 

Online messaging would be useful, is that in the plan?

Reminds me of HMRC.....

 

A few years ago I ended up posting a number of letters re. the 'penalty' (a couple of thousand sterling) they'd charged me for not providing an income tax return - even though I hadn't received any of their letters (after moving to Thailand) and had zero income to declare.  If they had any sort of 'organisation', they'd have known my Thai address as my husband was paying tax on his pension, and they knew his address....

 

Their postal replies never responded to these points....

 

Fortunately, someone at the tax office eventually sent my letter(s) to the 'complaints' dept. (whoever it was, thank you!)  - and I finally received a response stating that the penalties had been withdrawn.

 

Without the 'penalties', the tax people owed me over 300 sterling - but after the earlier fiasco, I couldn't be bothered to continue the argue the point about the 300 plus sterling owed ☹️.

[evadgib]

On 1/2/2019 at 1:57 PM, dick dasterdly said:

Reminds me of HMRC.....

 

A few years ago I ended up posting a number of letters re. the 'penalty' (a couple of thousand sterling) they'd charged me for not providing an income tax return - even though I hadn't received any of their letters (after moving to Thailand) and had zero income to declare.  If they had any sort of 'organisation', they'd have known my Thai address as my husband was paying tax on his pension, and they knew his address....

 

Their postal replies never responded to these points....

 

Fortunately, someone at the tax office eventually sent my letter(s) to the 'complaints' dept. (whoever it was, thank you!)  - and I finally received a response stating that the penalties had been withdrawn.

 

Without the 'penalties', the tax people owed me over 300 sterling - but after the earlier fiasco, I couldn't be bothered to continue the argue the point about the 300 plus sterling owed ☹️.

Timely reminder seen today:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/self-assessment-deadline-less-than-one-month-to-go

[topt]

On 1/2/2019 at 1:57 PM, dick dasterdly said:

Without the 'penalties', the tax people owed me over 300 sterling - but after the earlier fiasco, I couldn't be bothered to continue the argue the point about the 300 plus sterling owed 

Have you ever registered for online access to your HMRC account as if you have it may show on there - if they agreed to the figure you mention?

 

Even though I have to send a paper return I have online access and 2 weeks ago was able to claim a refund direct into my UK bank account where they had overcharged me for 2016/17 tax - of which I had previously been unaware. No phone calls or letters needed.

[dick dasterdly]

On 1/6/2019 at 3:11 PM, topt said:

Have you ever registered for online access to your HMRC account as if you have it may show on there - if they agreed to the figure you mention?

 

Even though I have to send a paper return I have online access and 2 weeks ago was able to claim a refund direct into my UK bank account where they had overcharged me for 2016/17 tax - of which I had previously been unaware. No phone calls or letters needed.

Yes, but I only got round to it a year or so ago.

 

After the 'debt' was wiped out, I came to the conclusion (when some time later I received an annual taxation, refund letter)  that they'd wiped out everything up until I started receiving a pension income - and so tax was payable again.

 

As mentioned previously, at the time I was just happy that they'd finally decided to delete the (roughly) 2,000 sterling penalties incurred for not providing tax returns after moving to Thailand (with no income and not receiving any tax returns to complete).  I really didn't have the energy or enthusiasm to start arguing again about the 300 odd sterling owed to me ☹️.

 

Since then, I've had to write to them on a few occasions to point out their miscalculations re. PAYE codes (at the time I was receiving 3 pensions, which made it a bit more complicated for them....) - but to be fair, they eventually 'got it right'.

 

Amazingly, this year their tax codes notification is correct - even though I'm now receiving 4 company/private pensions!

[evadgib]

Of interest to veterans:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-figures-reveal-changes-to-the-uks-veteran-population

Re 2021 UK census; IMO Brits living abroad should be included, especially if receiving work and/or state pensions from HMG. My last known appearance was in 1991 which to a future generation will look like I simply disappeared whereas in fact I am alive an well.

[vogie]

Star of Harry Potter getting involved with frozen pensions.

 

[billd766]

3 hours ago, vogie said:

Star of Harry Potter getting involved with frozen pensions.

 

Here is the link to make it easier to read.

 

https://icbp.yolasite.com/resources/EXPRESS.pdf

[delphioracle]

An interesting point was raised in the  two post shown below on another social forum board. 

 

Quote

Thailand does not have a reciprocal agreement with the UK re pensions BUT the UK DOES have a reciprocal agreement when it comes to income taxes. Go figure. Why would any country need a reciprocal agreement re pensions. I paid for mine just the same as EVERYONE else.

Then a reply was posted  shortly after raising an interesting point,see below.

 

Quote

 

That tax agreement could be worth investigating as it might be possible to use it as a precedent to have the same reciprocal agreement applied to U K state pensions.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by delphioracle

[topt]

5 hours ago, delphioracle said:

An interesting point was raised in the  two post shown below on another social forum board. 

 

Then a reply was posted  shortly after raising an interesting point,see below.

 

 

 

The DTA between Thailand and UK includes some "government" pensions but not the the State pension or personal/company pensions.

I am not sure why they think it can be used as a precedent bearing in mind this is one of 100s of DTAs the UK has. Why would they bother to consider changing it for just one country bearing in mind there must have been a reason it was set up like that in the first place? 

 

Also DTAs have to be agreed between both countries. I can imagine that Thailand would only be interested in reviewing it if they saw an opportunity for financial gain which would be HMRC's loss. 

 

[cleopatra2]

33 minutes ago, topt said:

 

The DTA between Thailand and UK includes some "government" pensions but not the the State pension or personal/company pensions.

I am not sure why they think it can be used as a precedent bearing in mind this is one of 100s of DTAs the UK has. Why would they bother to consider changing it for just one country bearing in mind there must have been a reason it was set up like that in the first place? 

 

Also DTAs have to be agreed between both countries. I can imagine that Thailand would only be interested in reviewing it if they saw an opportunity for financial gain which would be HMRC's loss. 

 

I think the argument is not about the contents of the DTA, or amendment of DTA. Rather that the UK has concluded an agreement with Thailand , thus it could be compelled to do likewise for a Social Security /DCC 

 

Re reading the 2 screenshots, it is not clear what the train of thought is regarding precedent. It would have been useful to explain the reasoning of how the precedent could be established.

Edited January 14, 2019 by cleopatra2

[nong38]

On ‎1‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 4:42 PM, delphioracle said:

An interesting point was raised in the  two post shown below on another social forum board. 

 

Then a reply was posted  shortly after raising an interesting point,see below.

 

 

The tax agreement is that you only pay tax in one of the countries either your home country or your current resident country ) so HMRC are the winners here. Any tax you pay in Thailand say on your bank accounts you can claim back against the Thai revenue office ( locally), I think you might not find it so easy claiming back VAT or tax on a vehicle, vehicle amount might be worth a try though. As far as the bank interest tax charge is concerned you need to get a letter from the bank confirming amount of tax deducted for the year ending whatever.

[topt]

On 1/18/2019 at 4:38 PM, nong38 said:

The tax agreement is that you only pay tax in one of the countries either your home country or your current resident country )

Not necessarily. Can be taxed in both with one offset -

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/international-manual/intm151040

 

On 1/18/2019 at 4:38 PM, nong38 said:

I think you might not find it so easy claiming back VAT or tax on a vehicle,

Unless you are running a business what makes you think you could anywhere and I am struggling to see how that is in any way relevant to DTAs and pensions?

[evadgib]

Of interest from HMG seen today:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-tool-helps-savers-get-a-50-government-boost-to-their-savings

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defence-secretary-commissions-new-report-to-step-up-support-for-service-families

Edited January 20, 2019 by evadgib

[billd766]

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

Of interest from HMG seen today:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-tool-helps-savers-get-a-50-government-boost-to-their-savings

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defence-secretary-commissions-new-report-to-step-up-support-for-service-families

But will us ex-servicemen who are living overseas with their families be eligible?

[evadgib]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

But will us ex-servicemen who are living overseas with their families be eligible?

Quite often they are but it certainly isn't clear from these latest links Bill.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, evadgib said:

Quite often they are but it certainly isn't clear from these latest links Bill.

 

If I get some time I might chase that one up. 

 

I served from 1960 to 1984 and in 1978 the government changed the rules and said that any remarriages after that date means a reduction in the wife pension benefit after I die.

 

So my wife will only get 6/22 of the money she would have before. Barstewards.

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

If I get some time I might chase that one up. 

 

I served from 1960 to 1984 and in 1978 the government changed the rules and said that any remarriages after that date means a reduction in the wife pension benefit after I die.

 

So my wife will only get 6/22 of the money she would have before. Barstewards.

Have you checked in the AFPS newsletter that comes with your Mil pension each year?

 

Does this help? https://forcespensionsociety.org/ 

I refused to sign up because they won't include the 'frozen' fiasco in their remit despite the vast numbers of Mil pensioners caught up in it.

HTH

[wgdanson]

On 12/5/2018 at 2:55 PM, JoePai said:

Did you phone the 'International' number ?  I found them to be very helpful and they will call you back if you wish

 

The International number gets you to the same people as the Freephone one.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

Have you checked in the AFPS newsletter that comes with your Mil pension each year?

 

Does this help? https://forcespensionsociety.org/ 

I refused to sign up because they won't include the 'frozen' fiasco in their remit despite the vast numbers of Mil pensioners caught up in it.

HTH

No I haven't. The next one I think, should be in April when we may get an extra 1%.

[evadgib]

9 minutes ago, billd766 said:

No I haven't. The next one I think, should be in April when we may get an extra 1%.

AFAIK the CPI in Sep was 2.4%. HMG/MoD usually show their hand by the end of Jan. I'll post details as soon as they do.

Edited January 20, 2019 by evadgib

[evadgib]

Related link from HMG:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/protect-your-pension-pots-from-investment-scams-and-negligent-trustees

 

Another link for veterans published today:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/veterans-gateway-begins-new-trial-proactive-call-service-to-support-ex-forces-community

 

This one doesn't really belong here but it might prove useful to families in or visiting UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/your-chance-to-question-ministry-of-defence-medals-and-records-experts-at-family-history-shows--2

Edited January 21, 2019 by evadgib

[evadgib]

Not us...yet ????

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/expat-voting-rights-treaty-secured-with-spain

Edited January 23, 2019 by evadgib

[cleopatra2]

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

Not us...yet ????

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/expat-voting-rights-treaty-secured-with-spain

I do not understand the significance of the agreement, and persons living in Thailand.

The agreement relates to British Nationals residing in Spain voting in Spanish local elections, visa versa

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, cleopatra2 said:

I do not understand the significance of the agreement, and persons living in Thailand.

The agreement relates to British Nationals residing in Spain voting in Spanish local elections, visa versa

Brits in RoW inc Thailand are currently disenfranchised after 15 years abroad. Moves are afoot to correct this & IMO the fact that HMG are bending over backwards in this example strengthens their case. I do however accept that we won't be able to vote in anything here (LoS) but my point was to highlight movement elsewhere which should in turn help everyone else. Votes for life and pension parity are actively being pursued by the consortium & therefore will be of interest to posters to this board.

HTH

Edited January 23, 2019 by evadgib

[cleopatra2]

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

Brits in RoW inc Thailand are currently disenfranchised after 15 years abroad. Moves are afoot to correct this & IMO the fact that HMG are bending over backwards in this example strengthens their case. I do however accept that we won't be able to vote in anything here (LoS) but my point was to highlight movement elsewhere which should in turn help everyone else. Votes for life and pension parity are actively being pursued by the consortium & therefore will be of interest to posters to this board.

HTH

The agreement highlighted is just the first step to maintain the status quo with regards to local elections following Brexit. 

[ivor bigun]

Not us...yet [emoji846]
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/expat-voting-rights-treaty-secured-with-spain

I fear not us ever.[emoji27]

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[cleopatra2]

46 minutes ago, ivor bigun said:

I fear not us ever.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

There is already a bill to address the expat voting rights making its passage through parliament.

[theoldgit]

I received this FoI response today, I've no reason to doubt its authenticity but it beggars the question as to why HMG continue to find excuses as to why they continue to freeze our State Pensions. 

[evadgib]

On 1/27/2019 at 9:35 PM, theoldgit said:

I received this FoI response today, I've no reason to doubt its authenticity but it beggars the question as to why HMG continue to find excuses as to why they continue to freeze our State Pensions. 

My suspicion is because its in the same bracket as Hanging; Everyone wants it but Govts fear it would be political suicide for whoever brings it back!