Civil Service Pension & Tax

Marcon

Have you advised the DWP/your local council as mentioned numerous times earlier in this thread, and stopped claiming means tested benefits?

Catonthemoon

@Silvertabby Apologies, that was a bit ambiguous. No, I haven’t claimed it yet.

@Marcon  No, I haven’t advised either one yet.

Silvertabby

Catonthemoon said:

@Silvertabby Apologies, that was a bit ambiguous. No, I haven’t claimed it yet.

@Marcon  No, I haven’t advised either one yet.

You really must stop kicking the can down the road and deal with this now.

Please don't wait for a definitive answer to your tax/means tested benefits queries on here - your situation is so.....unique....no-one has any prior examples to draw on.

DRS1

Silvertabby said:

Catonthemoon said:

@Silvertabby Apologies, that was a bit ambiguous. No, I haven’t claimed it yet.

@Marcon  No, I haven’t advised either one yet.

You really must stop kicking the can down the road and deal with this now.

Please don't wait for a definitive answer to your tax/means tested benefits queries on here - your situation is so.....unique....no-one has any prior examples to draw on.

I am assuming the OP will just put it off until she reaches state pension age.

Silvertabby

DRS1 said:

Silvertabby said:

Catonthemoon said:

@Silvertabby Apologies, that was a bit ambiguous. No, I haven’t claimed it yet.

@Marcon  No, I haven’t advised either one yet.

You really must stop kicking the can down the road and deal with this now.

Please don't wait for a definitive answer to your tax/means tested benefits queries on here - your situation is so.....unique....no-one has any prior examples to draw on.

I am assuming the OP will just put it off until she reaches state pension age.

Possibly. Then the fun will begin....

Marcon

Silvertabby said:

DRS1 said:

Silvertabby said:

Catonthemoon said:

@Silvertabby Apologies, that was a bit ambiguous. No, I haven’t claimed it yet.

@Marcon  No, I haven’t advised either one yet.

You really must stop kicking the can down the road and deal with this now.

Please don't wait for a definitive answer to your tax/means tested benefits queries on here - your situation is so.....unique....no-one has any prior examples to draw on.

I am assuming the OP will just put it off until she reaches state pension age.

Possibly. Then the fun will begin....

Fun is one word for it. By then the amount which OP will have to repay will have increased even more; ditto the likelihood of being charged with claiming benefits to which they are not, and were not, entitled - especially if they continue to claim them knowing full well they have long had an immediate entitlement to their CS pension (and indeed are now past the scheme's Normal Retirement Age).

OP, you really don't seem to have grasped the seriousness of what you are (quite deliberately) doing. It will come to light - be in no doubt about that.

xylophone

The OP appears to have applied for retirement on grounds of ill health, ie for her pension to be brought into payment immediately and unreduced for early payment.

She appears to have resigned from the job before knowing whether her application would be granted. Having neither income nor savings, she applied for means tested benefits which were granted and paid.

Within weeks (?) of receipt of MTBs, she was advised that her IHR had been approved and provided with the necessary forms to complete and return, thus enabling the administrator to make the payments. 

The approval should have led to her advising DWP of a change of circumstances?

She appears to have taken the view that she had the right to defer the IHP  (although immediately due and payable) and achieved
this by choosing not  to return the forms to the pension administrator (from whom she received no further communication).

Having taken this view, it followed that she did not need to advise DWP of a CoC because as far as she was concerned there was none.

This may not be DWP'S interpretation of the rules. 


OP, have you checked your State Pension forecast?

Marcon

...and OP is well aware that there's a problem with what they are doing:

Catonthemoon said:

@Marcon  Thank you. My post concerned the tax liability on my deferred CS Pension, but now that you’ve drawn my attention to the possible implications of having been in receipt of state benefits, that’s given real cause for concern 🙁. 

I’ve been in receipt of ESA (IR), HB & CTB for the whole of the deferral period.

I hadn’t been aware that I could ask HMRC to reassess me for individual years going back to the ‘entitlement date’ (when I could have claimed it in 2013/14); assuming that’s possible, that could mean that I pay circa £34k less in income tax.

Regarding the above mentioned benefits, my intention was to end the claims when the pension funds are received, the thinking being that as they are no longer ‘live claims’, then that would be the end of the matter. In other words, by doing so, it would take away the DWP & the Local Authority’s right to pursue/attempt to recover any benefits deemed to have been overpaid.

I have since become aware that that’s not necessarily the case (primarily from all the really knowledgeable & helpful people on here). I read a section of the DWP rules & regs which stated that they could seek to recover overpayments even when a claim has been closed.

I do wonder if I just ‘take the hit’ with the tax liability (circa £48k), I might be allowed to keep the net amount without the possibility of any benefits overpayments becoming an issue (although that may be wishful thinking). or

by requesting to be reassessed by HMRC to reduce my liability to circa £14k, could that be the point at which the can of worms is opened?

xylophone

Other thoughts.

 OP, are you saying that had you remained in the job until advised that the IHR application had been successful, you would still have tried to defer the pension and seek MTBs?

Of course it may be that your pension income would have been modest enough to entitle you to some assistance (at least after the automatic lump sum had reduced to £6000).

Have you obtained a state pension forecast?

DRS1

@xylophone You have asked twice about the OP's state pension forecast.  Is this just habit or do you have concern about it?  For example if she was getting NI credits while on benefits and then has to repay those benefits the NI credits may get cancelled?  And so the state pension would be reduced?