Attendance Allowance - Can You Claim Anything Else?

margaretclare

stressedoutmum wrote:

Jenniferpa:

Sorry didnt make myself very clear my dad claims for attendance allowance and he gets about £60.60 per week (its the top rate). My mum doesnt claim for anything. They just receive the £60.60 attendance allowance. (they all sound the same to me!) My dad does receive a very small pension from years ago which means his state pension is taxed.

Need to clarify here. It's DAD who gets the Attendance Allowance @ full-rate, meaning he needs help in the night as well as in the day-time. 'They' don't receive it. HE does.

The amount is £62.25 a week for this tax year, and it will be paid at the same time as his state retirement pension i.e. if he gets SRP weekly, both will be paid weekly; if he opted to have it 4-weekly then he'll get the AA 4-weekly as well. Basic SRP is £84.25 plus AA £62.25 totals £146.50.

I'm surprised your Dad is paying tax on a 'very small' occupational pension. The personal tax allowance rate for the current tax year is £7280. Basic state retirement pension is £4381 a year, therefore that leaves £2899 which he could receive from his occupational pension without being taxed. AA is ignored for tax purposes. I suggest he phones the tax office about this ASAP!

AA is a very useful benefit to get. It's ignored for means-testing purposes and for tax purposes.

BTW I have a lot more income than your Dad, and last tax year (2005/6) was the first year ever that I haven't paid any tax at all. So if his work pension is that 'small' I'm sure he shouldn't be paying tax either.

HTH

Margaret Clare

jenniferpa

I agree Margaret Clare. That's why I wondered if his tax code is correct. I don't think the OP indicated exactly how old her father is (obviously over 65, otherwise it wouldn't be attendance allowance). I though the SOP was to pay the state pension without deducting tax, then take any tax due from the occupational pension.

Do you know, I'd forgotten that the tax year had changed, so the AA had gone up?

margaretclare

jenniferpa wrote:

I agree Margaret Clare. That's why I wondered if his tax code is correct. I don't think the OP indicated exactly how old her father is (obviously over 65, otherwise it wouldn't be attendance allowance). I thought the SOP was to pay the state pension without deducting tax, then take any tax due from the occupational pension.

Yes, that's right. The tax office send a statement every year called a PAYE Coding Notice and they really do spell it out in simple language. 'Here is how we worked it out - your personal allowance £7280, then below that: state pension, then 'other earnings or pension'. The total amount of state pension plus other earnings or pension is deducted from the personal allowance, and what is left forms your tax code - the tax-free amount.

Mine was quite complicated for some years, because I have annuities from 3 different providers, then I worked part-time for Adecco, so in addition to full state pension, I had income from 4 other sources. Last year I got a tax refund for 2 of the years I'd worked for Adecco - that was nice, and unexpected. In addition, from last July I was awarded AA for 2 years (unlikely to get it again though, am improving all the time).

Do you know, I'd forgotten that the tax year had changed, so the AA had gone up?

We actually get married people's tax allowance (the OP's Dad is probably too young for this) and we split it between us. So my personal allowance is £7280, married couple's allowance £2350, total £9630. SRP and other pensions total £8510, tax-free amount is £1120. AA of course is not taxable nor is it means-tested, which is useful, as our income is way above any pension credit etc (even though people never stop trying to persuade us to 'see if you can get it'. We have, and we know we can't.)

However, you really have to be on the ball about these things. Many people have told us they weren't getting the age-related tax allowances because 'the tax office didn't know'. Well, they wouldn't know, would they, unless you told them? Same with married couple's allowance - many people said they didn't know we could claim this. We tend to look into things and claim it if we think we're entitled to it! There are far more people worrying about the possibility of paying IHT once they've died than there are older people claiming what is rightfully theirs.

Margaret Clare