Frozen pension tax increase

[john smith]

My pension has been frozen since I retired to Thailand. Every year my tax bill increases as the UK pension increases. The Revenue says that that they wait for the DWP to inform them that my pension is still frozen failing this they increase my tax. The DWP says that this is not their responsibility that it is the responsibility of the Revenue and I must inform the Revenue of my tax status annually. I have contacted the DWP several times always by email and their responses have mostly had nothing to do with the question asked. I refuse to throw away money on phone calls to the various agencies  - I am being bloody minded at this stage - so can anybody tell me which of the two agencies is responsible for this irritating mess?

[Kinnock]

That's a very annoying situation.

 

I use Skype to phone them, as I'm always left listening to hold messages for 30 minutes or more.  Skype can connect to UK freephone numbers, and if a normal number, the cost is much lower than making a mobile call.

 

I'm surprised you're paying tax on your Gov pension,  is this because other income takes you over the limit?  Are you filing an annual tax return?

 

Is your pension paid direct into a Thai bank account?

[flyingtlger]

8 minutes ago, john smith said:

I refuse to throw away money on phone calls

Get Skype, it economical and good quality....

[hotandsticky]

You need to set up a Government Gateway account and make your claim to HMRC via there.

 

 

A friend recently received a refund of £850.

[Tropicalevo]

7 minutes ago, flyingtlger said:

Get Skype, it economical and good quality....

And the software steals your information and tracks you.

I found out and deleted Skype. (I started receiving messages from people that I did not know.)

It started when they were bought out by Microsoft.

 

Back to your problem OP.

Submitting a tax return should fix this problem.

It seems that the two government bodies have no interest in helping you. The Revenue people will loose income and have to refund you. Why would they help?

 

Edited February 14 by Tropicalevo

[Ginkas]

Been there, done that.

This was reported on ASEANNOW about two years ago. That's when I found out that my tax had been increasing.

It took 18 months to get sorted with letters, phone calls and various documents sent to HMR&C.

It was only when I found a sympathetic person in DWP and a slightly less one in HMR&C that it was all cleared and they sent me a cheque!

Now waiting to see what April brings.

[CharlieH]

Not Visa related and nothing to do with Thailand.

 

MOVED

[Mutt Daeng]

I got my tax codes for 23/24 and 24/25 fixed yesterday when I contacted HMRC via their web chat service.

Much better to use the chat service than ringing them. I think it comes online around 8.30 am (UK time)

See this thread for more info about this situation.

 

Edited February 14 by Mutt Daeng

[Moonlover]

@john smith do you have an on-line account with HMRC? If you do that is the easiest route to resolving this issue, I had this problem for 3 years until I discovered how to fix it quickly and simply via my HMRC account and it has now been sorted, I received refund cheques for each of the 3 years that I overpaid and the problem hasn't reoccurred now for 10 years.

 

If you do have a HMRC account and you would like some advice on how to go about it, let me know and I'll do my best to walk you through it. 

Edited February 14 by Moonlover

[john smith]

Thank you. I will set up the account as you advised

[Moonlover]

1 hour ago, john smith said:

Thank you. I will set up the account as you advised

Smart move. Let me know when you're set up and I'll assist as necessary.

[ukrules]

7 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Get Skype, it economical and good quality....

 

I use it every day, have done for many years

 

[topt]

8 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

(I started receiving messages from people that I did not know.)

There is a setting which allows you to only receive messages from your contacts which stops that dead.

Other privacy settings as well but yes it is from Microsoft so you have to accept a certain amount of "slurp".......

 

[lungbing]

7 hours ago, Moonlover said:

@john smith do you have an on-line account with HMRC? If you do that is the easiest route to resolving this issue, I had this problem for 3 years until I discovered how to fix it quickly and simply via my HMRC account and it has now been sorted, I received refund cheques for each of the 3 years that I overpaid and the problem hasn't reoccurred now for 10 years.

 

If you do have a HMRC account and you would like some advice on how to go about it, let me know and I'll do my best to walk you through it. 

I have the same problem.  I have reported this five times via my HMRC account but each time it is signed off with no action on their part.  There is no comment space to let you tell them you are abroad.  All you can do is tell there is an error in the state pension figure you are receiving and input the correct weekly figure.  Then it's signed off within two weeks without amendment.

[hotandsticky]

9 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Not Visa related and nothing to do with Thailand.

 

MOVED

 

 

It is relative to Thailand because the tax code situation ONLY affects people in countries where the pension is frozen....ie Thailand.

[Moonlover]

22 hours ago, Kinnock said:

That's a very annoying situation.

 

I use Skype to phone them, as I'm always left listening to hold messages for 30 minutes or more.  Skype can connect to UK freephone numbers, and if a normal number, the cost is much lower than making a mobile call.

 

I'm surprised you're paying tax on your Gov pension,  is this because other income takes you over the limit?  Are you filing an annual tax return?

 

Is your pension paid direct into a Thai bank account?

Anyone whose income exceeds the personal allowance for the year (currently £12,570) will have the state pension included in the taxable amount. It is not taxed at source as with most incomes, but their tax code will be reduced on other incomes. My personal allowance shrinks from £12,570 to £6,879 because of this.

[lungbing]

Agreed.  But we are talking about HMRC assuming we get the annual increase to our state pension and taxing us accordingly.

[OJAS]

On 2/14/2024 at 9:12 AM, john smith said:

I refuse to throw away money on phone calls to the various agencies

 

Not to mention the considerable time wasted on your part until someone at the HMRC or DWP end can actually be bothered to pick up your call, during which time you are "serenaded" with irritating muzak interspersed with repetitive meaningless messages along the lines of "All our advisers are busy at the present time, but your call will be answered just as soon as it can be"! 😡

Edited February 16 by OJAS

[OJAS]

On 2/14/2024 at 9:28 AM, Tropicalevo said:

Submitting a tax return should fix this problem.

 

@john smith I agree with this suggestion. I have personally opted to continue filing tax returns even though my income sources these days are confined to my occupational and State Pensions following the sale of my UK property at the back end of 2021, precisely as a counter to the disgraceful manner in which DWP and HMRC are seeking to add insult to injury in our case by seeking to tax us on our perpetually frozen State Pensions through our tax codes as if we were in full receipt of triple-lock increases!

 

My latest tax return took less than an hour to file online, which IMHO beats hands down hanging for at least this length of time (and unable to do anything other than twiddling your thumbs in the meantime) in an attempt to call HMRC. You will, however, need to open a Govt Gateway account in order to be able to file tax returns online.

 

[OJAS]

On 2/14/2024 at 10:40 AM, Mutt Daeng said:

I got my tax codes for 23/24 and 24/25 fixed yesterday when I contacted HMRC via their web chat service.

Much better to use the chat service than ringing them. I think it comes online around 8.30 am (UK time)

See this thread for more info about this situation.

 

 

@john smith I can also vouch for this service on the basis of personal experience of it in dealing with HMRC on issues relating to capital gains tax on the UK property I sold at the back end of 2021. Following is the link you'll need to click in order to set the ball rolling:

 

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/ask-hmrc/chat/self-assessment

 

Jusy beware, though, that outside HMRC office hours you are unlikely to find yourself able to chat to anything (or anyone) other than a computer!

 

[topt]

On 2/16/2024 at 9:55 AM, OJAS said:

My latest tax return took less than an hour to file online, which IMHO beats hands down hanging for at least this length of time (and unable to do anything other than twiddling your thumbs in the meantime) in an attempt to call HMRC. You will, however, need to open a Govt Gateway account in order to be able to file tax returns online.

Are you using commercial software for this (online filing)?