Government Tax my Sister In laws pension

Ladywriter1968

CLAPTON wrote: »

OK
surely you know her age?

anyway

her income state pension is 85 x 53 = 4505 per annum
her works pension = 423 x 12 = 5076 per annum
total = 9581 per year
less tax free allowance of 6475 assuming she is less than 65 years old
so that leaves 3,106 taxed at 20% = 621 per annum
or 52 per month

she is 61 years old

McKneff

Im not an expert on tax, all I said was that I know the basics of why the tax people take money from me and that many
(not particularly your sister) do not take the time to figure out the basics of tax and I think you are taking offence where non
is intended. And as for the others mentioned, well, they have probably forgotten more than I know and they are well respected
members of MSE so you shouldnt take offence at what they say either.

I'm just an ordinary worker, paid tax for years. So I just know the basics as to what money and why is taken from me.

Ladywriter1968

McKneff wrote: »

Im not an expert on tax, all I said was that I know the basics of why the tax people take money from me and that many
(not particularly your sister) do not take the time to figure out the basics of tax and I think you are taking offence where non
is intended. And as for the others mentioned, well, they have probably forgotten more than I know and they are well respected
members of MSE so you shouldnt take offence at what they say either.

I'm just an ordinary worker, paid tax for years. So I just know the basics as to what money and why is taken from me.

Well I was just trying to help her, I dont know what she knows or dont know, but she was upset that she had to pay tax on her pension and I said I would try and find out the reason. Since I am not at retire age myself and in my 40's so had not really looked into that side of things. I am not up on tax either, only what I have read really on DWP sites. and others have informed me of. I guess by the time I reach my retirement things could have changed even more then, who to say there will even be a state pension then anyway, the way things are going. I only knew what my tax and NI was before as I used to check my wage slips and new what I earned, but not everyone bothers really do they, they just see what their net, take home is, and they dont worry about the rest of it. I used to always look as wanted to know how much tax and NI was being taken from me, but I can tell you lots of people who dont bother,. They only care what they end up with, not what they paid out

ViolaLass

Ladywriter1968 wrote: »

Agreed about tax, it is very complex ... tax is complex.

Mikeyorks' point was that at the individual level of working out how much tax you should be paying according to your tax code and making sure that the right amount is being deducted is not that hard. I agree with him.

I don't think anyone was having a go at you because you didn't know the answers to your question but rather because you didn't carry out a fairly simple Google search which would have told you what you needed to know.

Incidentally, I don't see why people shouldn't pay tax just because they are retired.

margaretclare

Ladywriter1968 wrote: »

Agreed about tax, it is very complex and not all individuals can understand it, my sister in law is in her 60's and a couple of years before her job closed down, she had to learn a new computer system, she said, how am I supposed to learn all this at my age. she has a sick husband to and heart probs. Not everyone is good at maths either to be able to work it all out themselves. So thanks for that. tax is complex.

Not sure what the sick husband and heart problems has got to do with anything, but all of us who have worked for an appreciable number of years should have learned at least the basics of the tax we were paying.

The state pension is not taxable at source, but anyone who gets another pension as well whether from work, an annuity, a private pension from own savings/investments, whatever - the whole lot is added together. Everyone of whatever age gets a personal tax allowance i.e. you are allowed to have a certain amount before tax is payable. There is one rate for a person up to 65 then another band from 65-75, then another one for 75+. Is that clear now?

The 'married women's smaller stamp' as it was euphemistically called, came in from 1948 to 1978. Reason for it goes back to the Beveridge Report of 1942 on which the post-war 'welfare state' legislation was based. It was not assumed that a married woman needed to accrue pension in her own right, she was meant to stay at home and 'replenish the race' in Beveridge's words. So, she was meant to get her pension provision through her husband. Decades of married women have been conned in this way - if they worked it was assumed they could pay a smaller NI contribution which did not entitle them to sickness, unemployment or pension provision.

This disappeared in April 1978 for any woman who got married on the 6th of that month or after. Unfortunately it remained in place for a woman who had made the lower contribution up to that date. Many women did not know the ins and outs of it, and as McKneff said, there are far too many people who didn't take the trouble to find out what they were paying and why, chucking their pay-slips straight into the bin. 'Oh I don't understand it' was the cry. It is not that difficult to understand! A further anomaly was that until April 1990 a married woman's earnings were considered to be part of her husband's income for tax purposes, and he could be written to about her tax affairs. This, thankfully, was abolished with the Budget of 1990.

By the way, my DH never touched a computer until after his 60th birthday. He took to it like a duck to water. I've learned about it since then too, although I'm not quite such a whiz as he is. I did IT courses in 1999 and I was in my late 60s then.

Ladywriter1968

CLAPTON wrote: »

OK
surely you know her age?

anyway

her income state pension is 85 x 53 = 4505 per annum
her works pension = 423 x 12 = 5076 per annum
total = 9581 per year
less tax free allowance of 6475 assuming she is less than 65 years old
so that leaves 3,106 taxed at 20% = 621 per annum
or 52 per month

Where did you get the 85 and 53 figures from?

Ladywriter1968

ViolaLass wrote: »

Mikeyorks' point was that at the individual level of working out how much tax you should be paying according to your tax code and making sure that the right amount is being deducted is not that hard. I agree with him.

I don't think anyone was having a go at you because you didn't know the answers to your question but rather because you didn't carry out a fairly simple Google search which would have told you what you needed to know.

Incidentally, I don't see why people shouldn't pay tax just because they are retired.

Well I dont agree with you, I think that when people retire if they have worked all their lives, they should get some sort of relief from tax. If you are happy to pay out tax when you retire thats up to you, but I bet if you had a choice you would much rather have that money for your family or yourself or something you need. After all, there are people in this country that live off the benefits and never paid their own tax. Plus the foreignors that come over to and get free treatments etc. and an interpreter. I am going into another area here now but I will only give my opinion and ask advice, I will not argue on here and life is to short. So the pensioners are paying for all of them as well.

It may not be that hard to work out for some people, but I dont know how she would fair working it all out herself really. not everyone is up on this stuff. Just remember not everyone has the same mental capacity, some are very clever and some are not. Some people can grasp some subjects but quite poor on others, as for the google search, I did this and sent her the links and just wanted advice from people for her.

Otherwise, what is the point of this site? we will all do searches on everything then, then may as well not use this site at all then. I thought it was for people to help each other. I mainly do, do googles searches on stuff, but if people are gonna be horrible then I wont use it anymore.

margaretclare

Well I don't agree with you, I think that when people retire if they have worked all their lives, they should get some sort of relief from tax.

They do. There are higher personal allowances from age 65 and from age 75. See page 2 of this: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget-updates/autumn-tax/tiin2525.pdf

This does, of course, assume that people retire at 65 and then extra tax relief is given at age 75.

I don't know that anyone is ever 'happy' to pay tax. I've never heard of anyone who was! But that's not the point. Paying tax is the price of living in a developed country and all that goes with it. DH and I, after decades in the workplace - almost a century between us - were both still paying tax until we reached 75. We still pay other taxes i.e. council tax, VAT on everything etc.

I will not and cannot be drawn on 'foreigners coming here' and 'people who live off benefits and don't pay tax'.

elmer

Fred Goodwin retired on £600, 000 a year I do hope recveiving a pension is never a reason for not paying tax, We will be paying that for another 20 or so years a bit of tax back is only fair

elmer

easy

Ladywriter1968 wrote: »

Well I dont agree with you, I think that when people retire if they have worked all their lives, they should get some sort of relief from tax. If you are happy to pay out tax when you retire thats up to you, but I bet if you had a choice you would much rather have that money for your family or yourself or something you need. After all, there are people in this country that live off the benefits and never paid their own tax. Plus the foreignors that come over to and get free treatments etc. and an interpreter. I am going into another area here now but I will only give my opinion and ask advice, I will not argue on here and life is to short. So the pensioners are paying for all of them as well.

Fine, so everyone should stop paying tax on income after retirement age ??
In that case they should also revert to paying full price for everything - public transport, overdue library books, sight tests, prescriptions etc. etc.
Oh, and as those who are over retirement age tend to be the heavier users of our health services, they can make a flat-rate payment for every doctors and hospital appointment they take, OK?