No idea what my state pension actually is.

squirrelpie

If your only income is your state pension and other pensions (teachers' in your case) then you shouldn't need to fill out a tax return at all. It should all be automatic. As others have already said, you should have had notifications both of your state pension amount and the new tax code on your teachers' pension.

badmemory

My sister was a teacher & would not believe me at first that tax things could be incorrect.  You do need to check that any charges are correct.  You need to check what state pension you received in each tax year, how much gross teacher's pension you also received & then how much tax & finally was that tax correct.  So basically a + b -12570 then the answer x 0.2 (or divided by 5), for each year.  The first year often has errors but normally sorts out afterwards.

Even if the state pension is populated please check that where it is a full year that it should be a full year.

Marcon

WIAWSNB said:

I've been receiving this now for a year. If I tally up the monthly amounts, will the total sum be net or gross? I presume the former?

Unbludybeliveably, if I log on to the Gateway, it'll happily show me stuff like the NI record, but will not show the actual annual pension I should be receiving (which should be the full). No actual sum.

I want to fill in a tax return, so where do I get this figure?! Surely I don't need to tally up each month's payment, and 'add' back on the presumed removed tax? Why is this so bludy hard... :-(

In short, when on their site can I find my 'pension'?

Ta :-)

If you file a tax return online, and wait until you are a month or two into the new tax year, the relevant state pension figure will have been auto-completed for you.

Alternatively, you can get the figure now from your personal tax account: https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

What's hard about that?

eskbanker

WIAWSNB said:

I want to fill in a tax return....

You want to, or you've been asked to by HMRC, or you've carefully studied the criteria and believe you need to register for self-assessment?

dreaming

Did you receive notification from DWP about this year's increase to state pension (I received mine in February this year)? Admittedly it doesn't show an annual amount but it does show how much will be paid 4-weekly from May, and also breaks down thepart old/part new payments for the previous period, and yes it is gross. I also receive an annual tax notice which shows that my state pension (which is shown as an annual amount) is tax free and how much of my company pension is tax free, but if you haven't been paying tax I suppose you may not get one automatically.

jem16

Marcon said:

VWIAWSNB said:

I've been receiving this now for a year. If I tally up the monthly amounts, will the total sum be net or gross? I presume the former?

Unbludybeliveably, if I log on to the Gateway, it'll happily show me stuff like the NI record, but will not show the actual annual pension I should be receiving (which should be the full). No actual sum.

I want to fill in a tax return, so where do I get this figure?! Surely I don't need to tally up each month's payment, and 'add' back on the presumed removed tax? Why is this so bludy hard... :-(

In short, when on their site can I find my 'pension'?

Ta :-)

If you file a tax return online, and wait until you are a month or two into the new tax year, the relevant state pension figure will have been auto-completed for you.

Alternatively, you can get the figure now from your personal tax account: https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

What's hard about that?

Mine was pre-populated within days but as usual was wrong. The pre-populated figure is always 52 times the weekly rate whereas my entitlement - as that’s what must be entered - was 1 week of old plus 51 weeks of new. This is the amount that’s used in the tax code so why they can’t use the same amount to pre-populate the Self Assessment I do not know. It’s most annoying.

jem16

WIAWSNB said:

QrizB said:

State pension is paid gross.

If you haven't chosen otherwise, it's paid four-weekly. How much was your payment in eg. January? If you divide that by four, do you get £221.20?

When you say you've been receiving it for a year, did you get any payments at all in the 23/24 tax year? Or is 24/25 the first?

Thanks.

I'm getting £940.76 pm into my bank account, June '24 to Mar '25. 

May '24 was less, at £470.38, but it was during that month that I first drew my statie. Apr '25 is more - £959.34

No, now't before May '24.

I just can't figure out why the actual annual 'sum' isn't shown anywhere!

So, are you saying that the amount received in my bank account is 'gross', sans tax? So that is the sum I declare to the HMRC, and tax will then be deducted?

Many thanks for your help.

Basically you need to work out the full number of weeks from May 24 to 5th April 25. Then add them all up plus the few days at the start to cover the period from reaching SPA to your first whole week of entitlement. As per the link that xylophone posted, the state pension is taxed on when you become entitled to the pension and not when you actually receive it. So that’s basically whole weeks (apart from the first few days from SPA) as your entitlement is weekly even though you have chosen to receive it four weekly.

Once you’re in a full year, the easiest way is to take 1 week of old rate (as the first week of the new tax year is always pre increase) and 51 weeks of the new rate. That’s the figure that HMRC use in your tax code so you can use that. In my experience the pre-populated figure is 52 weeks of new rate which is wrong and I always change it. 

Marcon

jem16 said:

Marcon said:

VWIAWSNB said:

I've been receiving this now for a year. If I tally up the monthly amounts, will the total sum be net or gross? I presume the former?

Unbludybeliveably, if I log on to the Gateway, it'll happily show me stuff like the NI record, but will not show the actual annual pension I should be receiving (which should be the full). No actual sum.

I want to fill in a tax return, so where do I get this figure?! Surely I don't need to tally up each month's payment, and 'add' back on the presumed removed tax? Why is this so bludy hard... :-(

In short, when on their site can I find my 'pension'?

Ta :-)

If you file a tax return online, and wait until you are a month or two into the new tax year, the relevant state pension figure will have been auto-completed for you.

Alternatively, you can get the figure now from your personal tax account: https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

What's hard about that?

Mine was pre-populated within days but as usual was wrong. The pre-populated figure is always 52 times the weekly rate whereas my entitlement - as that’s what must be entered - was 1 week of old plus 51 weeks of new. This is the amount that’s used in the tax code so why they can’t use the same amount to pre-populate the Self Assessment I do not know. It’s most annoying.

Just use the figure they've given. It's hardly a huge amount and the same 'error' will doubtless be repeated year on year, so effectively ironing itself out as you go along.

jem16

Marcon said:

jem16 said:

Marcon said:

VWIAWSNB said:

I've been receiving this now for a year. If I tally up the monthly amounts, will the total sum be net or gross? I presume the former?

Unbludybeliveably, if I log on to the Gateway, it'll happily show me stuff like the NI record, but will not show the actual annual pension I should be receiving (which should be the full). No actual sum.

I want to fill in a tax return, so where do I get this figure?! Surely I don't need to tally up each month's payment, and 'add' back on the presumed removed tax? Why is this so bludy hard... :-(

In short, when on their site can I find my 'pension'?

Ta :-)

If you file a tax return online, and wait until you are a month or two into the new tax year, the relevant state pension figure will have been auto-completed for you.

Alternatively, you can get the figure now from your personal tax account: https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

What's hard about that?

Mine was pre-populated within days but as usual was wrong. The pre-populated figure is always 52 times the weekly rate whereas my entitlement - as that’s what must be entered - was 1 week of old plus 51 weeks of new. This is the amount that’s used in the tax code so why they can’t use the same amount to pre-populate the Self Assessment I do not know. It’s most annoying.

Just use the figure they've given. It's hardly a huge amount and the same 'error' will doubtless be repeated year on year, so effectively ironing itself out as you go along.

How is it going to iron itself out? Basically every year they are filling in a higher amount than I'm entitled to.

squirrelpie

jem16 said:

Marcon said:

jem16 said:

Marcon said:

VWIAWSNB said:

I've been receiving this now for a year. If I tally up the monthly amounts, will the total sum be net or gross? I presume the former?

Unbludybeliveably, if I log on to the Gateway, it'll happily show me stuff like the NI record, but will not show the actual annual pension I should be receiving (which should be the full). No actual sum.

I want to fill in a tax return, so where do I get this figure?! Surely I don't need to tally up each month's payment, and 'add' back on the presumed removed tax? Why is this so bludy hard... :-(

In short, when on their site can I find my 'pension'?

Ta :-)

If you file a tax return online, and wait until you are a month or two into the new tax year, the relevant state pension figure will have been auto-completed for you.

Alternatively, you can get the figure now from your personal tax account: https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

What's hard about that?

Mine was pre-populated within days but as usual was wrong. The pre-populated figure is always 52 times the weekly rate whereas my entitlement - as that’s what must be entered - was 1 week of old plus 51 weeks of new. This is the amount that’s used in the tax code so why they can’t use the same amount to pre-populate the Self Assessment I do not know. It’s most annoying.

Just use the figure they've given. It's hardly a huge amount and the same 'error' will doubtless be repeated year on year, so effectively ironing itself out as you go along.

How is it going to iron itself out? Basically every year they are filling in a higher amount than I'm entitled to.

So you're complaining because every year they take a little less tax than they should?