Pension Boosting article discussion

gadgetmind

Thanks for that.

I have to do a return every year, and we also have to do the scary CGT pages for her, so adding a few more pages is no big deal.

I'll ping a mail off my accountant to sanity check this 'cos if it works, it will get her a full pension at £520 less per annum that class 3 contributions.

donaldtramp

Well my mum has just received the letter back from the Inland revenue after paying roughly £2500 to buy back years.
I mentioned it to her a while ago(before the story went up on MSE).
So the cheque was sent away a long time before most of you guys sent off/are going to send off.
I have to warn you that she DID NOT get any backdated payment as stated on MSE.
From the main page on MSE:

Better still, if you’re already claiming the state pension when you make the top-up you may get (My emphasis) a backdated payment as a rebate for the years you’ve already been claiming. Yet this trick closes on 5 April 2011 so move quick.
A woman who retired in April 2008 with 30 NI years who buys another five (at a £3,133 cost) will get £1,840 backdated and roughly £650 more a year (in today's prices). If she lives 20 years, she's almost £15,000 up.

The backdated payment simply DID NOT happen.
My mum called up the pension phone number (the government number that came with the receipt for the cheque) and the person at the other end told my mum that

"she had been badly advised. There is no such thing as backdated payments!!!!"

The payments were backdated until when the cheque was cashed (about £16!) but not back to her retirement date (November 2008)

I think Martin better check where he got his info from and it's a bit of a warning to all you folks out there going through this process just now!
Suppose in the long run my mum will still be up. Within 3 years she'll get back the £2500, then keep getting the extra. Just nowhere near as quick as mentioned on this website and others.
The guy said she has 1 month to appeal but when the guys said that there were no backdated payments, I don't think she has a leg to stand on.

Anyone else had this experience?
Has anyone actually received a cheque to backdate payments or are these backdated payments an internet rumour that got out of control?
What are the rules for the backdated payments if there are any?

harz99

donaldtramp wrote: »

Well my mum has just received the letter back from the Inland revenue after paying roughly £2500 to buy back years.
I mentioned it to her a while ago(before the story went up on MSE).
So the cheque was sent away a long time before most of you guys sent off/are going to send off.
I have to warn you that she DID NOT get any backdated payment as stated on MSE.
From the main page on MSE:


The backdated payment simply DID NOT happen.
My mum called up the pension phone number (the government number that came with the receipt for the cheque) and the person at the other end told my mum that

The payments were backdated until when the cheque was cashed (about £16!) but not back to her retirement date (November 2008)

I think Martin better check where he got his info from and it's a bit of a warning to all you folks out there going through this process just now!
Suppose in the long run my mum will still be up. Within 3 years she'll get back the £2500, then keep getting the extra. Just nowhere near as quick as mentioned on this website and others.
The guy said she has 1 month to appeal but when the guys said that there were no backdated payments, I don't think she has a leg to stand on.

Anyone else had this experience?
Has anyone actually received a cheque to backdate payments or are these backdated payments an internet rumour that got out of control?
What are the rules for the backdated payments if there are any?

This link seems to indicate otherwise.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@shared/documents/digitalasset/dg_180387.pdf

Maybe that the people whose number you called don't actually deal with the process and just pay out?

donaldtramp

Thanks for the link Harz.
I'll get my mum to give the numbers on it a call.

I'll post up what happens

gadgetmind

My accountant gave this the green light, so my wife is now a self-employed "Horticultural Photographer". She'll be paying £135.20 pa for five years, which will boost her pension by £1147.64 pa from the age of 66 onwards. If she does get a job in the next few years, I think we can claim back her Class 2 over payments, which is nice.

We did consider putting her down as "sage" or "poet" or even a modern and trendy "sage/poet", but she does like taking pictures of flowers, and has even won an award for one of her pictures.

harryhound

They might want to see evidence of sales taking place so she has profits to invest in visits to RHS Wisley etc to take more photographs.;)

Expect a clamp down like the one on people with country cottages that they manage to rent to friends and family but make a loss.
That loss being allowable against the "bankers" 50% rate of tax.

It is always a bit difficult to draw a line between the people who enjoy a pin money hobby and those who are scratching to make a living out of the same activity.

gadgetmind

It's always hard to get a new business off the ground and it can take years to show a profit. Perhaps even as many as five years. :-)

harryhound

Yes but I think they actually have to sell something to be counted as trading:D

We get lots of questions on here along the lines of "ehm.... It is a hobby really, but it seems to be turning into a business, when should I register for NI payments, thus triggering an interest from HMRC?"

gadgetmind

I don't see much scalability in her chosen occupation but I'm sure she can earn a few bob.

If this pans out, and we do manage to get another 5 qualifying years for a total of £676 rather than the £655 per annum that Class 3 would cost, then I will be rather pleased. It won't make up for the 10s of 1000s of £s that HMG extract from my pay packet every year, but I'll at least feel like some of it might flow back our way at some point.

donaldtramp

Further to my last posts on here...

Well my mum has just received the letter back from the Inland revenue after paying roughly £2500 to buy back years.
I mentioned it to her a while ago(before the story went up on MSE).
So the cheque was sent away a long time before most of you guys sent off/are going to send off.
I have to warn you that she DID NOT get any backdated payment as stated on MSE.

My mum has been in touch again and she is NOT going to get her payments backdated.
Before the turn of the century she had already bought 6 "cheap years" (at the time you could buy old years for cheaper than the £600 or so now)
The years she just bought back now were 02/03/04/05. A line has been drawn apparently that years after the turn of the century don't count. Strange as there is with no mention in any of the info I've read.
So looks like no backpayment stands in the eyes of the government:(