claiming 40% relief

xylophone

The gross contribution simply increases the amount of basic rate tax payable,

Or "extends the basic rate band...."

See

https://adviser.royallondon.com/technical-central/pensions/contributions-and-tax-relief/member-contributions-and-higher-rate-tax-relief/

Dazed_and_confused

Yes, extends the basic rate band is a better description.

xylophone

Yes, extends the basic rate band is a better description.

I've noticed that it seems to be the term used by what you might call the tax professionals...:)

mpension

Hi all.
Thank you for the replies.
Just to clarify, my wife is changes from 500 a month to 2700 a month and wanted to have HMRC change the tax code to compensate for the additional tax relief.
Perhaps we can’t do that, but from what I’ve read here, I thought we could.
We have had four different replies from four HMRC people on calls.

Regards

xylophone

You can confirm that your wife is a higher rate tax payer?

See link in 12 above and write to HMRC if necessary.

thickasabrick

Q1 Are the pension contributions being made through your wife's workplace pension ?
If the pension contributions are showing in her playslip this should automatically reduce "taxable pay".
otherwise
Q2 Are the pension contributions being made from your wife's net pay, the money that lands in her bank account from her pay after deduction of tax and national insurance ?
e.g. paying into a SIPP or a personal pension plan not provided by her employer.
Q3 If yes to Q2 then is the pension provider who is operating the SIPP or personal pension plan adding "relief at source" ?
e.g. Your wife contributes £2700 then the pension provider adds £675 "Tax Relief" so that £3375 is the total amount showing in the SIPP/personal pension plan.
If you answer yes to Q2 and Q3 then I would have thought phoning or writing stating the amount of the contributions made so far since the start of the tax year and the planned monthly contributions until the end of the tax year would start the adjustment of her tax code.

mpension wrote: »

Hi all.
Thank you for the replies.
Just to clarify, my wife is changes from 500 a month to 2700 a month and wanted to have HMRC change the tax code to compensate for the additional tax relief.
Perhaps we can’t do that, but from what I’ve read here, I thought we could.
We have had four different replies from four HMRC people on calls.

mpension

Again, thank you for the helpful guidance.
To answer some questions.
She is a higher rare tax payer.
It’s a company run private pension. The 20% gets added.
What I was trying to do was somehow account for the extra 40% relief, rather than having to claim back at the end of the year.
Maybe that cannot be done.
The first person my wife spoke to thought it could be done, but said my wife needed to enter the information online as it was more than £10000 per year!!
Not sure if that’s correct.
All the others she has spoken to since ( as we can’t find where to do this) have said she can’t.
We are going to write in and see what happens.
Regards

Dazed_and_confused

This is an everyday type of thing for HMRC.

I can only think you or your wife are somehow (unwittingly) confusing them when you phone.

What I was trying to do was somehow account for the extra 40% relief, rather than having to claim back at the end of the year.

There is no "extra 40" relief. If her income exceeds £100k then she could theoretically benefit by an additional 40% however it isn't a set 40% pension relief, it is a combination of pension tax relief which extends the basic rate tax band, meaning some income may become taxed at 20% not 40%, and becoming entitled to some Personal Allowance which would otherwise have been lost.

What exactly are asking HMRC?

Plenty of people who post on here have done this with no problem whatsoever.

And for the avoidance of doubt can you confirm your wife is contributing to a "relief at source" pension scheme. If not I think you may have completely misunderstood how pension tax relief works.

NoMore

Totally agree with @dazed and confused, this is a simple thing to do. It took me 5 minutes on a online chat with HMRC earlier this year.


You are either not telling us something, not understanding how it works, or explaining really badly to HMRC what you want.


My advice don't tell HMRC you want Tax relief, just tell them your Income and your Gross Pension Contributions for the year and then let HMRC decide on how much you are entitled to and how they are going to return it to you.