65 years old - I dont exist

Rippedoff

Retired from civil service after 25years.
Now 65- due for increase in tax allowance.
Rang tax office in Cardiff who administer civil servants tax codes-no trace of me on their system. I dont exist.

Been paying tax on my retirement pension from civil service since 1990-where has my tax been going.

They state I have paid no tax on my old age pension since I received it in 2003.

It is obviously another serious lack of co-operation between government departments.

What are my options ?

kitty1801

They probably do have the details on their PAYE browser - they just need to check. If your pension provider has been issuing you with P60's then they will have sent the details to HMRC as well. These show on the browser but do not always show on the front screen systems.

Basically - get them to check all systems. It should be there somewhere.

merkage_2

I'd suggest you send the tax office a letter or an email detailing the problem and requesting a reply, so that you have something in writing. That way if you need to take it further you have backing documents. Hope you clear up your query with them.

Kitty1801's advice looks good to try first

bryanb

Have you received "Notices of coding" since 1990?

BoGoF

Happens more often than you think. There will be records for you, just not a computer record. If you have been receiving P60's then HMRC will have their equivalent copies.

What would normally happen when someone starts receiving state retirement pension is that DWP would notify HMRC of this and tax code would be adjusted, but no computer record means nothing has happened.

First things first, you want to get this years tax code sorted. I don't know what the situation was after your telephone call but a record should have been set up and a pension review form (P161) issued. This will sort out this year.

With regard possible underpayments for earlier years you should ask that this not be pursued under the terms of HMRC's Extra Statutory Concession A19. This basically states that where they have failed to make use of information supplied to them (this includes other government department) and it was reasonable for the taxpayer for the taxpayer to believe their tax affairs were in order then the tax will not be pursued.

kitty1801

I seriously doubt HMRC will accept that it was reasonable for you to accept your tax affairs were in order with regards to the additional state pension income. I have never seen a case where this has happened.

It's still worth a try though but if that doesn't work, ask your office to code any underpayment over 2-3 tax years instead to reduce the additional tax paid.

Rippedoff

Bryanb

Received no correspondance from HMRC
All we have is P60`s from Capita with regular update of tax code .


Civil service pension - old age pension - income tax- all government inspired agencies/departments - I was under the impression they all communicated with each other.

Never in a million years would I have allowed such a situation to arise - a brief addition of the pension is nearly £24000 - tax on that would give Sky sports to all the cabinet.

bryanb

Had a similar situation myself a few years back, when I returned to UK after 17 years away. Tried to regularise things a few times, they kept denying I existed. Eventually when I claimed State Pension, they asked for details of savings accounts etc.
After submitting every thing they sent a letter stating that I owed £xx in back taxes up to the date of my death, But that in the circumstances they would not chase payment.
Another department (of HMRC) allocated me a tax code in the same week, I have been paying the correct tax since but nothing in respect of earlier years. I'm letting sleeping (or dead) dogs lie

Rippedoff

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archived case summaries

We continue to receive a high proportion of complaints about the difficulties that people sometimes experience with their tax codes in general and, more specifically, tax underpaid as a result of incorrect tax codes being applied to earnings.
A recurring feature of such cases is HMRC's application of their Extra Statutory Concession A19 (ESC A19), which, in certain circumstances allows them to give up arrears of tax. The following case summaries illustrate typical issues that arise in such investigations.
ESC A19 case summary 1

Miss G retired early from work due to ill health and began to receive an occupational pension. She was subsequently able to resume work on a part time basis. She advised the Inland Revenue of her income and that she expected to draw her state retirement pension the following year, when she reached the age of 60.
Miss G's income from her employer's pension and part-time work was taxed correctly but the Inland Revenue failed to adjust Miss G's tax code when she began to receive her retirement pension. The situation was not rectified and her arrears built up over 5 years.
During this time, Miss G did not receive any tax codes and she continued to believe that all of her income was being taxed through PAYE. When she was finally advised that considerable arrears had accrued, Miss G was, understandably, very upset. She asked the Inland Revenue to give up her tax arrears under ESC A19.
The Inland Revenue accepted that they had received information from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about Miss G's state retirement pension and that they had failed more than once to act upon this information. They did not, however, accept that Miss G could have reasonably believed that her tax affairs were in order. They said that she should have expected to pay more tax when her income increased. This upset Miss G even more, as she believed that the Inland Revenue was questioning her integrity.
The Inland Revenue offered to collect the arrears, which amounted to approximately £5,000, by restrictions to her tax code over 5 years. They also offered to pay Miss G £100 in recognition of the worry and distress that she suffered because of their mistake. Miss G was not satisfied with the Inland Revenue's offer and she asked the Adjudicator to consider her case.
We upheld this complaint.
We took the view that Miss G's tax affairs were not entirely straightforward. We considered that her age and ill health meant that she was vulnerable and that the Inland Revenue should take account of this when considering her case. During our conversations with Miss G, it was apparent that she had genuinely believed that her affairs were in order and the arrears that accrued had caused her considerable worry and distress.
Miss G did not receive any tax codes throughout the 5 years when the arrears built up. We felt that these might have alerted her to the fact that she was not paying sufficient tax and, on that basis we felt that she satisfied the conditions set out in the 'reasonable belief' test. As the Inland Revenue had already accepted that they failed to make proper and timely use of information from the DWP, we asked them to reconsider their position concerning 'reasonable belief'.
The Inland Revenue subsequently agreed to give up the arrears of tax, which totalled nearly £5,000, under the provisions of ESC A19.
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Mikeyorks

If Capita have your records and a Code Number - then HMRC supplied the latter - therefore there is a record for you within HMRC? As Capita also supply HMRC with the year end details of what they have paid you / deducted from you .... then there is an HMRC record for that to go into. Just as there is a Pensions Service record for you - otherwise you wouldn't be getting a State Pension.

However - your responsibility to notify HMRC you were getting a State Pension. You can't rely upon a theory of co-operation between HMRC and Pensions Service .... even though that does work in most cases. This bit from the ESC you quote is particularly relevant :-

She advised the Inland Revenue of her income and that she expected to draw her state retirement pension the following year,

...... in your case you appear to have taken no steps to advise them of the additional income .... nor of the fact your tax code was correspondingly incorrect?

Debt_Free_Chick

Rippedoff wrote: »

Received no correspondance from HMRC
All we have is P60`s from Capita with regular update of tax code

And the tax office shown on your P60s is definitely the Civil Service one in Cardiff?