Claiming Pension Contribution refund 2024/25

Dazed_and_C0nfused

c_beam said:

@tetrarch interested to see how you/your daughter get on.  I made a direct contribution to my workplace scheme (Aviva) for similar reasons after leaving the company and receiving a one off pay out.  In my case it was grossed up for basic rate relief by Aviva. I used the HMRC form highlighted by @Sarahspangles to claim higher rate relief on 26th February.  I received an acknowledgement that estimated I would hear back in 28 working days but I called HMRC on 05/03 to check I'd followed the right process and the agent told me he had never heard of the form and I would have to do a self assessment return.  After some discussion he suggested I wait to see what happens before doing a self assessment (!).  28 days passed so I checked using one of the other HMRC "when should I expect a reply" tools and it suggested April 10th.  That date passed so I called them again today and the agent confirmed the form had been received but no one had looked at it yet.  She put my form into the worklist (!? not sure I'm using the right term here) and gave me a new target date of June 24th and told me that, since the payment relates to the last tax year, I will be given the option of receiving it as a lump sum into my bank account.

HMRC won't be making a specific pension tax relief refund.

They will review your overall tax position for last tax year, taking into account your extended basic rate band.

If you have overpaid tax they will send a calculation letter showing the overall position for that tax year.  And you will then have the option to claim a payment of the tax overpaid direct into your bank account.

c_beam

An update on my experience with this form...I chased early this month (June) and was asked to resubmit with more evidence of the lump sum payments, this time I uploaded the year end statement from the pension provider as opposed to a screen shot of the transactions.  Despite this they closed my case saying that the payments were via PAYE.  I called again to get it reopened.  Now awaiting another letter.  If this is not right I will do a self assessment.

tetrarch

Update from my end.

Submission was made on 9th April so we're well overdue for a response. As I recall my daughter sent proof of payment with her application and specified that payments were made outside of PAYE

She's going to brave the phone lines next week (here's hoping that she beats the 70-minute robo-cutoff)

Regards

Tet

Nomunnofun1

tetrarch said:

Update from my end.

Submission was made on 9th April so we're well overdue for a response. As I recall my daughter sent proof of payment with her application and specified that payments were made outside of PAYE

She's going to brave the phone lines next week (here's hoping that she beats the 70-minute robo-cutoff)

Regards

Tet

Phone at 8 am sharp!

c_beam

I already have HMRCs second go at the calculation, it came electronically via the app and online account with a notification via email, which is good.  I can request the refund online but I'm in the process of checking the sums.  The breakdown doesn't match what I expected but it's close.  I'm not sure how I would query it other than another call. My wait time on all the recent calls has been around 20' so not too bad.

otherwayup

I gave up trying to claim the full 40% for a single contribution outside of S.A. and just submitted a self assessment online (which is fairly easy and quick)  The refund came through quite quickly.  BUT, that was last year.  This year I'm still waiting for my refund that I requested over 6 weeks ago after submitting the S.A.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

otherwayup said:

I gave up trying to claim the full 40% for a single contribution outside of S.A. and just submitted a self assessment online (which is fairly easy and quick)  The refund came through quite quickly.  BUT, that was last year.  This year I'm still waiting for my refund that I requested over 6 weeks ago after submitting the S.A.

What does your Self Assessment statement of account show?

otherwayup

I literally cannot find a link/section or page headed 'statement of account'

Where would I find it?

Under Self Assessment, View Account, Current Position, it says

Current position

You have overpaid. £10,640.15 is available for repayment.

Request a repayment

How to use this service

How to pay

In early May, I selected Request a repayment and entered the amount and bank details etc. and got a ref. number.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

otherwayup said:

I literally cannot find a link/section or page headed 'statement of account'

Where would I find it?

Under Self Assessment, View Account, Current Position, it says

Current position

You have overpaid. £10,640.15 is available for repayment.

Request a repayment

How to use this service

How to pay

In early May, I selected Request a repayment and entered the amount and bank details etc. and got a ref. number.

That will do. 

You could be caught by this?

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/self-assessment-manual/sam113010

Although that is a pretty large overpayment, maybe HMRC are going to open an enquiry into your return?

otherwayup

Thanks for info. - guess I'll have to call them to find out.

update: I called them about a week ago and the HMRC rep. just processed the repayment and the money arrived in account today.  She said I'd done nothing wrong/made no errors, but neither did she explain why the payment hadn't happened already.