Tax relief on pensions and and retirement annuity

jem16

mania112 wrote: »

if you are a basic rate taxypayer there is never a need to claim the tax relief in a personal pension.

Yes but the OP's confusion lay in the fact that he also has a Retirement Annuity Contract where you may have to claim tax relief even though you are a basic rate taxpayer.

jem16

FatherAbraham wrote: »

Hello RaiderHammer,

There's a special page of information about retirement annuities on the HMRC website: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensioners/pension-retirement.htm

The information there is principally about taxation of income from such policies, but the contact details within the page may help you get answers to your questions.

Warmest regards,
FA

It's not that type of Retirement Annuity that the OP is referring to. He is referring to a Retirement Annuity Contract which is a type of pension plan where contributions were made gross and tax relief had to be claimed as some providers still don't claim it for you.

http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/personal-and-stakeholder-pensions/retirement-annuity-contracts-(rac)-and-s226s

dunstonh

A section 226 retirement annuity contract to give it the full name. Some people refer to them as RACs, some S226. They are the forerunner of the personal pension. They were closed for new business in 1988 when personal pensions came into existence. However, those paying into one got to keep them. They are paid gross and the tax relief needs to be reclaimed. HMRC typically makes a tax code adjustment.

mania112

jem16 wrote: »

Yes but the OP's confusion lay in the fact that he also has a Retirement Annuity Contract where you may have to claim tax relief even though you are a basic rate taxpayer.

Right, I was just pointing out where the mistake was made. Modern PP's shouldn't have had a tax reclaim.

jamesd

Given the dual use of RAC and personal pension I can see why someone might have thought that they had to treat the PP in the same way as the RAC, so that should help to keep any HMRC penalties down - helps to support an inadvertent mistake claim.