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Call HMRC for Claiming Pension Tax Relief
Mr.Saver
Posts: 521 Forumite
I phoned HMRC today morning for claiming pension tax relief, overall it was a pleasant experience.
I'm opening this thread to help other people who is going to call HMRC for the same reason. I'll detail what information HMRC has asked for and also some (hopefully) helpful tips to help people get through the phone call easier and faster. I hope by doing this, I can help people get things done faster, and also hopefully reduces the HMRC line waiting time and benefit everyone else who needs to call them.
So, let's begin with some background information, if you haven't read the pension tax relief page on the gov.uk website, you should read it first. After reading that, if you need to claim tax relief, you will generally be given a choice between two options - "Self-Assessment tax return" and "call or write to HMRC". I choose the latter one, because SA requires more additional work.
Click on the call or write to HMRC link on that page, you will be redirected to Contact HM Revenue & Customs - Income Tax: general enquiries, which contains many more options than call and write, but you should only call or write to HMRC for claiming pension tax relief.
But before you pick up your phone, there are something you need to know first. If you total lump sum pension contributions (not including the workplace pension deducted from your payroll) is above £10,000 in the 2018-19 tax year (this may change in the future tax years), you will have to write to HMRC to claim it. Assuming that your total lump sum pension contributions is below £10k, you'd have the options of either call or write to HMRC. I prefer to call because it's quicker and also Money Saving (save the cost on post stamps).
Once you have decided to call HMRC to claim pension tax relief, you will need the following information:
* Your national insurance number
* Your full name, including any middle names
* Your full address and postcode
* Your date of birth
* When did you make the pension contributions
* How much is each one of the contributions
The recorded voice will first ask what is the reason for your call, this is for directing you to the right department. You should answer "pension tax relief".
A note here: after the recorded voice asks you the question, it goes quiet. It's not like the telecom company's system which gives you a few numbered options and ask you to press the number keys on your phone to choose from them. You will instead need to say it out clearly. So ideally you should do this in a quiet and private place, as this can reduce the chances which you will need to repeat the same answer many times in a row, and feel embraced in front of people. (Imaging you are sitting in a cafe and repeatedly read out your national insurance number 3 times in a row like a robot...) You should also avoid to add additional words to your answer, e.g. don't say "claiming tax relief on my pension contribution", as the longer the sentence the higher the chance the computer will get confused or make mistakes. Keep it short and use only meaningful words could help the computer to recognise it easier and in turn saves your time.
After you answered that question, the recorded voice will repeat your answer and ask you is it right, you only need to answer "yes" or "no".
And then after some recorded statements, it will ask you what's your national insurance number. In my case, it took me 3 tries to finally get it done.
Tips for reading your NI number to the machine on the other end: use phonetic alphabet, and read the numbers one by one.
For example, if your NI number is AB 87 65 43 21 C, please don't read it as "A B Eighty-seven Sixty-five Forty-three Twenty-one C", this won't work. Instead, read: "Alfa Bravo Eight Seven Six Five Four Three Two One Charlie".
Once the machine is able to recognise your NI number, it will repeat the number for you to confirm, you will need to say "yes".
After that, the recorded voice will ask you for your name, post code and date of birth, just follow the voice instructions and you will be connected to a real person soon.
The person will ask you some additional security questions, including some of the questions the recorded voice had asked. Just be polite and answer the questions again.
Once you have passed the security check, the person on the line will need to confirm that you are eligible to use the phone service for claiming your tax relief. In my case, they asked me whether I'm a higher rate tax payer, what kind of pension did I pay in (in my case, lump sum paid into my SIPP), and did the lump sum in total go over £10,000.
After you have passed the eligibility check, they will ask which tax year did you make the payments. In my case, it was the current tax year, but you can claim for the previous years too. Then they will ask you about the pension payment details, and you will need to tell them about each individual contribution - in which month did you make the contribution, and how much was it. Please be clear and consistent about whether giving the gross or net numbers, this will help prevent mistakes.
After you've told them about all the lump sum contributions you've made in the year, they may ask whether you will make the same amount of one off payments in the next year. You will need to answer it based on your personal situation. In my case I said no, because I'm planning to pay a smaller lump sum into my pension in the next tax year, this is related to the increasing of PA and BR band and the workplace pension minimal increasing from 5% to 8%.
And then, they will add your other pension contributions (in my case, workplace pension) to the number. If it's about the current tax year and you have a regular contribution like workplace pension, they may also ask you for an estimation of future contributions for the remaining tax months. I told them the remaining months will be the same as my previous months, but you may have a different answer for this.
At this point, they have got enough information and will workout the final number for you. They will then put that into your tax code, and you will pay less tax in the future.
The whole phone call (including the record voice part) took me a little bit over 10 minutes, this is my best valued 10 minutes spend in 2019 so far :j
Hopefully you will be able to stress-freely claim back your tax relief in 10 minutes too! :beer:
I'm opening this thread to help other people who is going to call HMRC for the same reason. I'll detail what information HMRC has asked for and also some (hopefully) helpful tips to help people get through the phone call easier and faster. I hope by doing this, I can help people get things done faster, and also hopefully reduces the HMRC line waiting time and benefit everyone else who needs to call them.
So, let's begin with some background information, if you haven't read the pension tax relief page on the gov.uk website, you should read it first. After reading that, if you need to claim tax relief, you will generally be given a choice between two options - "Self-Assessment tax return" and "call or write to HMRC". I choose the latter one, because SA requires more additional work.
Click on the call or write to HMRC link on that page, you will be redirected to Contact HM Revenue & Customs - Income Tax: general enquiries, which contains many more options than call and write, but you should only call or write to HMRC for claiming pension tax relief.
But before you pick up your phone, there are something you need to know first. If you total lump sum pension contributions (not including the workplace pension deducted from your payroll) is above £10,000 in the 2018-19 tax year (this may change in the future tax years), you will have to write to HMRC to claim it. Assuming that your total lump sum pension contributions is below £10k, you'd have the options of either call or write to HMRC. I prefer to call because it's quicker and also Money Saving (save the cost on post stamps).
Once you have decided to call HMRC to claim pension tax relief, you will need the following information:
* Your national insurance number
* Your full name, including any middle names
* Your full address and postcode
* Your date of birth
* When did you make the pension contributions
* How much is each one of the contributions
The recorded voice will first ask what is the reason for your call, this is for directing you to the right department. You should answer "pension tax relief".
A note here: after the recorded voice asks you the question, it goes quiet. It's not like the telecom company's system which gives you a few numbered options and ask you to press the number keys on your phone to choose from them. You will instead need to say it out clearly. So ideally you should do this in a quiet and private place, as this can reduce the chances which you will need to repeat the same answer many times in a row, and feel embraced in front of people. (Imaging you are sitting in a cafe and repeatedly read out your national insurance number 3 times in a row like a robot...) You should also avoid to add additional words to your answer, e.g. don't say "claiming tax relief on my pension contribution", as the longer the sentence the higher the chance the computer will get confused or make mistakes. Keep it short and use only meaningful words could help the computer to recognise it easier and in turn saves your time.
After you answered that question, the recorded voice will repeat your answer and ask you is it right, you only need to answer "yes" or "no".
And then after some recorded statements, it will ask you what's your national insurance number. In my case, it took me 3 tries to finally get it done.
Tips for reading your NI number to the machine on the other end: use phonetic alphabet, and read the numbers one by one.
For example, if your NI number is AB 87 65 43 21 C, please don't read it as "A B Eighty-seven Sixty-five Forty-three Twenty-one C", this won't work. Instead, read: "Alfa Bravo Eight Seven Six Five Four Three Two One Charlie".
Once the machine is able to recognise your NI number, it will repeat the number for you to confirm, you will need to say "yes".
After that, the recorded voice will ask you for your name, post code and date of birth, just follow the voice instructions and you will be connected to a real person soon.
The person will ask you some additional security questions, including some of the questions the recorded voice had asked. Just be polite and answer the questions again.
Once you have passed the security check, the person on the line will need to confirm that you are eligible to use the phone service for claiming your tax relief. In my case, they asked me whether I'm a higher rate tax payer, what kind of pension did I pay in (in my case, lump sum paid into my SIPP), and did the lump sum in total go over £10,000.
After you have passed the eligibility check, they will ask which tax year did you make the payments. In my case, it was the current tax year, but you can claim for the previous years too. Then they will ask you about the pension payment details, and you will need to tell them about each individual contribution - in which month did you make the contribution, and how much was it. Please be clear and consistent about whether giving the gross or net numbers, this will help prevent mistakes.
After you've told them about all the lump sum contributions you've made in the year, they may ask whether you will make the same amount of one off payments in the next year. You will need to answer it based on your personal situation. In my case I said no, because I'm planning to pay a smaller lump sum into my pension in the next tax year, this is related to the increasing of PA and BR band and the workplace pension minimal increasing from 5% to 8%.
And then, they will add your other pension contributions (in my case, workplace pension) to the number. If it's about the current tax year and you have a regular contribution like workplace pension, they may also ask you for an estimation of future contributions for the remaining tax months. I told them the remaining months will be the same as my previous months, but you may have a different answer for this.
At this point, they have got enough information and will workout the final number for you. They will then put that into your tax code, and you will pay less tax in the future.
The whole phone call (including the record voice part) took me a little bit over 10 minutes, this is my best valued 10 minutes spend in 2019 so far :j
Hopefully you will be able to stress-freely claim back your tax relief in 10 minutes too! :beer:
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Comments
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Very interesting insight thanks.
This bit confused me though,And then, they will add your other pension contributions (in my case, workplace pension) to the number. If it's about the current tax year and you have a regular contribution like workplace pension, they may also ask you for an estimation of future contributions for the remaining tax months. I told them the remaining months will be the same as my previous months, but you may have a different answer for this.
At this point, they have got enough information and will workout the final number for you. They will then put that into your tax code, and you will pay less tax in the future.
Why are they adding your workplace contributions? This makes it seem like you are getting two lots of tax relief on these contributions, once via net pay and a second time by an adjustment to your tax code on the apparent assumption that they are a relief at source contribution (for the basic rate relief).
Or have I misunderstood this?0 -
Dazed_and_confused wrote: »Very interesting insight thanks.
This bit confused me though,
Why are they adding your workplace contributions? This makes it seem like you are getting two lots of tax relief on these contributions, once via net pay and a second time by an adjustment to your tax code on the apparent assumption that they are a relief at source contribution (for the basic rate relief).
Or have I misunderstood this?
Right, I forget to mention that my workplace pension is relief at source. I pay higher rate income tax first, and then pay pension contributions from my after tax salary, but I only get the basic rate tax relief on the gross contributions. Therefore HMRC will need to add my workplace pension to the tax relief claim too.0 -
Ok, makes sense now0
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Anyone tried submitted self-assessment form to claim back pension tax relief? How does that work? I managed to get my UTR code but haven't managed to work out how to claim. Its seems like you need to submit a whole load more details.
Maybe calling them is the easier option.
Save 12K in 2020 # 38 £0/£20,0000 -
You have to complete the whole of the return all the bits that apply to you for the tax year in question.
There is no actual specific pension tax relief as such.
Most people who need to claim extra tax relief because of pension contributions have paid into a "relief at source" scheme.
This increases the amount of basic rate tax payable which in turn reduces the amount of any higher rate tax payable (or intermediate rate tax payable if Scottish resident for tax purposes).
If you need to complete a tax return then that is the only way to obtain the tax relief now for 2018:19. HMRC never alter the tax code of one year to give tax relief on pension contributions made in a different tax year.0 -
I phoned HMRC on the 31st of March to claim back HRT on contributions to my SIPP. They took the information and said that it was too late to adjust my tax code for this year (2018-19) and that I would have to phone after the 21st of April with details of my P60 to claim a refund.
No mention of contributions to my workplace pension which are done through salary sacrifice.
Just checked my P60 and taxable pay matches up to the figures I was expecting minus the salary sacrifice.
Won't be over the £40,000 annual allowance for pension contributions and my finances are about as simple as you can get, PAYE, basic bank account and everything else in tax wrappers so hopefully just get the refund without having to go through self assessment.0 -
I sent off a mail over to them with my details for claiming of tax relief about 2 weeks ago and I haven't heard back. Anyone else with experience of mailing them for tax relief claim?? Do they write back with a letter?
I might try the webchat tomorrow if I end work early. It's a bit of a pain to call through I think. Waited too long on the phone the last time.
Save 12K in 2020 # 38 £0/£20,0000 -
Your posts on this thread don't make sense.
If you have registered for Self Assessment, as per your first post, and HMRC have sent you a tax return to complete then that is how you get any tax relief due.
By completing the return.
What do you mean by "sent a mail"? HMRC don't do email. Do you mean a letter? And if so why when you have registered for Self Assessment?0 -
If you have sent a letter then there is approximately 0 chance that you'll get a reply in 2 weeks. It's more likely to be closer to 2 months (and it may be on the far side of that time).0
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Tax has been refunded to me now.
Follow the script in the post by Mr Saver "Call HMRC for Claiming Pension Tax Relief.
Be absolutely clear that the figure you are providing is the total contribution to your personal pension excluding basic rate tax relief by your pension company and then let HMRC add the basic rate tax relief to the total before calculating the refund.
My personal pension provider adds the basic rate tax relief to my contribution so I had used that figure and HMRC then added the basic relief to that again so I had to phone to correct it back to the figure I provided.
I had to wait until my employer had sent HMRC the figures from my P11D before the refund was processed.thickasabrick wrote: »I phoned HMRC on the 31st of March to claim back HRT on contributions to my SIPP. They took the information and said that it was too late to adjust my tax code for this year (2018-19) and that I would have to phone after the 21st of April with details of my P60 to claim a refund.
No mention of contributions to my workplace pension which are done through salary sacrifice.
Just checked my P60 and taxable pay matches up to the figures I was expecting minus the salary sacrifice.
Won't be over the £40,000 annual allowance for pension contributions and my finances are about as simple as you can get, PAYE, basic bank account and everything else in tax wrappers so hopefully just get the refund without having to go through self assessment.0
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