Widower's Military Pension

JPin

Hi All,
I have been trying to help a widow whose husband passed away in 2018. Her husband had a military pension that passed to his wife. The widow had the option of £40 per month or to take the lump sum of £11k, she was advised that only being on a state pension would be except of any tax. However, when the payment was made it was for less than £8k with a considerable amount of tax taken off.  The lady has contacted HRMS who advised to go to the MOD who passed her to a sub-department who didn't reply. Is there a way to properly investigate this for the widow?
Thanks in advance

Silvertabby

This is standard procedure.  The pension provider didn't have a tax code to work with and so had to take notional tax - which may or may not be the correct amount.  

Not sure why she was informed that the whole amount would be tax free - assuming her personal tax code is 1250, she will pay tax on the excess over the total of £11K plus her State pension.

She needs to complete HMRC form P53 to request the refund of overpaid tax.