Pension Letter Uk Embassy

[Tafia]

I have been told by a number of folks that they have changed the format at the British Embassy when it comes to calculating the amount of pension for Visa extensions from Gross Monthly to Net Monthly??

Can anyone confirm or throw any light on this?

Thanks in anticipation.

[lopburi3]

We have seen one report of this and indeed the person received letter with net income stated. We have no confirmation or have any idea how they would determine this figure for other than government type pensions and have only heard of it happening at the UK Embassy. If a general requirement would have expected to see many more reports by now but perhaps the UK is ahead of the ball? Or wrong.

[ljerams]

I can only think this applies where Income Tax is involved and is actually shown on the payment slip for which the Embassy take a copy.

[GuyDow]

We have no confirmation or have any idea how they would determine this figure for other than government type pensions and have only heard of it happening at the UK Embassy.

I get an occupational pension from a former UK employer. This has UK tax deducted at source. The only way to avoid UK tax is to opt to pay tax on this pension in Thailand and thus avoid UK tax through the double taxation agreements. I get an annual statement which shows gross and net figures. The net figures tally with my bank statements.

When I have presented the pension statement and recent bank statements to the UK Consulate, which I understood was required for the "income letter", they have always used the net figure. This has been the case for the last three years. Using the net figure makes sense to me since it is the money which is available to me to support myself.

Frankly, I thought the primary source of information for the UK consulate was your last three months bank statements. Other information provided (like pension statements) was to confirm inward payments were of a regular nature (as thus could be classified as income) rather than one offs.

As well as my occupational pension I get other regular inward payments to my account, some of which are taxed and some are not. The UK consulate has always been happy to lump them all together for the "income letter" provided I can show they are regular payments.

[IsaanAndy]

We have seen one report of this and indeed the person received letter with net income stated. We have no confirmation or have any idea how they would determine this figure for other than government type pensions and have only heard of it happening at the UK Embassy. If a general requirement would have expected to see many more reports by now but perhaps the UK is ahead of the ball? Or wrong.

I can confirm when I collected my confirmation of income letter (for a pension) from the UK Embassy in December 2009, it did indeed only state the NET income.

My previous letters showed the GROSS income so there must be a change of policy.

[DRG]

I last obtained a letter from Barry Kenyon, Honary Consul in Pattaya in October 2009. As in previous years I gave him copies of the latest letter (April 2009) from my pension provider in the UK. It doesn't show how much tax is deducted so Barry put the gross amount on his UK Embassy letter. Has this procedure changed?

[Dave the Dude]

I last obtained a letter from Barry Kenyon, Honary Consul in Pattaya in October 2009. As in previous years I gave him copies of the latest letter (April 2009) from my pension provider in the UK. It doesn't show how much tax is deducted so Barry put the gross amount on his UK Embassy letter. Has this procedure changed?

I had the same treatment too from them for the last two years and most recently only in January just gone!

I think I was once told that tax codes/circumstances may change during the year and thats why a gross figure is used.

[theoldgit]

I'm going this week, I will report back.

I suppose that if the tax has already been deducted at source, and shown on the evidence, they are correct in showing the net figure as that way they way they are correctly confirming the income available, will have to wait and see.

[Mario2008]

I have asked the British Embassy if they will give a statement based on Nett or gross income. After more than 4 weeks the embassy still can't be bothered to reply.

[theoldgit]

I have asked the British Embassy if they will give a statement based on Nett or gross income. After more than 4 weeks the embassy still can't be bothered to reply.

Ah yes, that'll be in the too difficult tray.

[Penkoprod]

It might be a good idea to open this up to other nationalities

For instance, do the likes of (say) Swedes/Dutch/Aussies/Danes/German expats get THEIR pension statements based on gross or nett figures.

Maybe we Brits wont like some of the answers given...who knows???

Penkoprod

[DRG]

I'm going this week, I will report back.

I suppose that if the tax has already been deducted at source, and shown on the evidence, they are correct in showing the net figure as that way they way they are correctly confirming the income available, will have to wait and see.

As you say, I suppose it depends what evidence you give them. If you show your last monthly pension advice with the tax deduction they could put the net figure. If you show the annual notice from your pension provider there is no way they can calculate the net amount without knowing your PAYE code.

[DRG]

We have no confirmation or have any idea how they would determine this figure for other than government type pensions and have only heard of it happening at the UK Embassy.

I get an occupational pension from a former UK employer. This has UK tax deducted at source. The only way to avoid UK tax is to opt to pay tax on this pension in Thailand and thus avoid UK tax through the double taxation agreements. I get an annual statement which shows gross and net figures. The net figures tally with my bank statements.

When I have presented the pension statement and recent bank statements to the UK Consulate, which I understood was required for the "income letter", they have always used the net figure. This has been the case for the last three years. Using the net figure makes sense to me since it is the money which is available to me to support myself.

Frankly, I thought the primary source of information for the UK consulate was your last three months bank statements. Other information provided (like pension statements) was to confirm inward payments were of a regular nature (as thus could be classified as income) rather than one offs.

As well as my occupational pension I get other regular inward payments to my account, some of which are taxed and some are not. The UK consulate has always been happy to lump them all together for the "income letter" provided I can show they are regular payments.

I see what you mean. If you ask for confirmation of all regular income not just pensions then I can see that bank statements and other documents may be required, and the net pension figure may be used.

On the double taxation point, I too considered paying tax in Thailand as the rates look more favourable, particularly with the current exchange rate. But it seems to me after a few hours trawling HMRC documents and helpsheets that even though we are non residents, pensions paid from the UK are liable to tax in the UK. I am by no means an expert, but it looks as if we would still have to declare the UK pension and consequently tax will be payable. All the double taxation agreement ensures is that any tax paid to the Thai authorities can be claimed as relief against our UK tax liability. So I reckon don't bother and keep a low profile.

[GuyDow]

All the double taxation agreement ensures is that any tax paid to the Thai authorities can be claimed as relief against our UK tax liability. So I reckon don't bother and keep a low profile.

Quite. As well as the logistical difficulties likely in reclaiming from HMRC, I don't really want the Thai tax authorities poking about in my affairs. Too much potential downside.

[Prajak]

The Dutch embassy gave my statements gross and added "(not) taxable in the Netherlands".

[theoldgit]

I went to the Embassy this week to request my letter and supplied the proof from my pension provider which has the gross pension and the taxes deducted in the last year. I didn't ask which figure they would use but the young lady marked the gross figure with a highlighter, and this was the figure that was typed on my letter.

A gentle reminder that the fees for this and all services increased on 6th April, the standard letter has gone up from 1872B to 2408B, now I'm not very good at sums but I make that about 28.6%.

[GuyDow]

I went to the Embassy this week to request my letter and supplied the proof from my pension provider which has the gross pension and the taxes deducted in the last year. I didn't ask which figure they would use but the young lady marked the gross figure with a highlighter, and this was the figure that was typed on my letter.

Very interesting. I think I'll try this approach myself next time.

[JAS21]

I went to the Embassy this week to request my letter and supplied the proof from my pension provider which has the gross pension and the taxes deducted in the last year. I didn't ask which figure they would use but the young lady marked the gross figure with a highlighter, and this was the figure that was typed on my letter.

A gentle reminder that the fees for this and all services increased on 6th April, the standard letter has gone up from 1872B to 2408B, now I'm not very good at sums but I make that about 28.6%.

O bu@@er...I need a letter and could have got it a couple of weeks ago. So the new fee is 2408Baht but can anyone confirm postage as I always do it that way. Last year postage was about 100Baht. thanks