Retired! (and a query re. HMRC)

atw_uss

I've been retired a week and have to say I can wholeheartedly recommend it! I realise I'm very fortunate to have been able to do this with a DB pension at 56 (husband at 54) but so far no regrets whatsoever. I'll probably be carrying on with a very small amount of work in the short-term but nothing onerous, and this has helped smooth the way a little bit (i.e., not a complete and sudden stop).

Many thanks to this forum and the many posters/threads that have given food for thought and valuable pointers (including @ussdave and THE NUMBER thread). It's been timely and often inspirational.

One small question ... should I ring HMRC and inform them of my change in status to pre-empt/avoid any emergency tax, etc? I'm pretty sure I'll need to file a tax return at the end of the year.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

One small question ... should I ring HMRC and inform them of my change in status to pre-empt/avoid any emergency tax, etc? I'm pretty sure I'll need to file a tax return at the end of the year.

What change in status?

HMRC are interest in your (taxable) income and it isn't clear what has happened?

Have you left one employment and started a new one?

Have you continued on the same employment?

Have you started to receive a pension?

The emergency tax code is 1257L, which is what most people have as their tax code so nothing unusual in that at all.

Why do you think a tax return might be required?

la531983

If your ONLY income is your DB pension they should be taxing this at source (likely at 1257L). Is it?  

No tax return would be required.

If your DB pension is above 12,570 a year or so, any additional work you do under PAYE would need to be taxed at source under the code BR, and again no tax return is required. Not clear if you are working on a self employed basis or not though.

atw_uss

Thanks for the replies. 

I'll have gone from employed to claiming my occupational pension. I will then hopefully have a new short-term contract (same employer) for any additional work. I may do some external examining work and this would likely be paid untaxed - I'm assuming that if I go over the £1000 allowance then I might need to make a declaration but that would be at the end of the year, so no need to let HMRC know now.

Marcon

atw_uss said:

I've been retired a week and have to say I can wholeheartedly recommend it! I realise I'm very fortunate to have been able to do this with a DB pension at 56 (husband at 54) but so far no regrets whatsoever. I'll probably be carrying on with a very small amount of work in the short-term but nothing onerous, and this has helped smooth the way a little bit (i.e., not a complete and sudden stop).

Many thanks to this forum and the many posters/threads that have given food for thought and valuable pointers (including @ussdave and THE NUMBER thread). It's been timely and often inspirational.

One small question ... should I ring HMRC and inform them of my change in status to pre-empt/avoid any emergency tax, etc? I'm pretty sure I'll need to file a tax return at the end of the year.

No need. The pension payroll will take care of reporting you are in receipt of your DB pension, and your employer will report any new period of employment. They can only act on tax codes issued direct to them.

atw_uss said:

Thanks for the replies. 

I'll have gone from employed to claiming my occupational pension. I will then hopefully have a new short-term contract (same employer) for any additional work. I may do some external examining work and this would likely be paid untaxed - I'm assuming that if I go over the £1000 allowance then I might need to make a declaration but that would be at the end of the year, so no need to let HMRC know now.

If you exceed the £1,000 a year, you'll need to register as self employed. See https://www.gov.uk/set-up-sole-trader

atw_uss

Thank you @Marcon, that's really useful!