Overpaid tax on a private pension lump sum payment

Oldmare1958

Hi all, can anyone help. My hubby had a lump sum out of his private pension (already used his tax free amount) instead of the usual 20% tax we expect to pay he has been taxed on an emergency tax basis. So has been taxed quite heavily. Filled in a P55 form to claim back over 3 months ago, numerous calls to the tax office are soul destroying and on an hour plus each time. Have to explain everything over again. Is there anything we can do or do we have to sit and wait for them to sort it...eventually. 
Lump sum was taken in this tax year.

Marcon

Oldmare1958 said:

Hi all, can anyone help. My hubby had a lump sum out of his private pension (already used his tax free amount) instead of the usual 20% tax we expect to pay he has been taxed on an emergency tax basis. So has been taxed quite heavily. Filled in a P55 form to claim back over 3 months ago, numerous calls to the tax office are soul destroying and on an hour plus each time. Have to explain everything over again. Is there anything we can do or do we have to sit and wait for them to sort it...eventually. 
Lump sum was taken in this tax year.

Time to complain: https://www.gov.uk/find-hmrc-contacts/make-a-complaint-about-hmrc

DRS1

Has he been issued with a tax code now for this pension?  I wonder what would happen if he took a second lump sum now - £100 say.  Would that straighten out the tax or would the P55 complicate things.

In future perhaps better to take the money towards the end of a tax year not the start.

Marcon

Is his personal tax account showing the P55 has been submitted?

Green_hopeful

Its a shambles when i claimed some tax back last year it took 9 months and a complaint. My tax still looks strange but it is right i hope. Anyway. I found the chat thing easier than ringing. If you go online before 10 am and type adviser into the chat it will eventually put you through to a human. It seems less annoying waiting in an online queue than listening to the dreadful music. You need your ni number, name address and date of birth so i copy that in ready while I am waiting and then I can press return when I get through. 

dunstonh

Filled in a P55 form to claim back over 3 months ago, numerous calls to the tax office are soul destroying and on an hour plus each time. Have to explain everything over again. Is there anything we can do or do we have to sit and wait for them to sort it...eventually. 

The online reclaim method is about 3 weeks.  Really simple and quick now.  The paper method is 3-6 months.

You say it was over 3 months ago.    Was the draw on the pension before or after 6th April?

Albermarle

Green_hopeful said:

Its a shambles when i claimed some tax back last year it took 9 months and a complaint. My tax still looks strange but it is right i hope. Anyway. I found the chat thing easier than ringing. If you go online before 10 am and type adviser into the chat it will eventually put you through to a human. It seems less annoying waiting in an online queue than listening to the dreadful music. You need your ni number, name address and date of birth so i copy that in ready while I am waiting and then I can press return when I get through. 

The alternative is to phone at 08.00. You normally get through to someone in less than 20 mins, sometimes just a few minutes.

Marcon

dunstonh said:

Filled in a P55 form to claim back over 3 months ago, numerous calls to the tax office are soul destroying and on an hour plus each time. Have to explain everything over again. Is there anything we can do or do we have to sit and wait for them to sort it...eventually. 

The online reclaim method is about 3 weeks.  Really simple and quick now.  The paper method is 3-6 months.

You say it was over 3 months ago.    Was the draw on the pension before or after 6th April?

I'm not disputing what you say (which I suspect reflects reality!) but that's not what HMRC says about 'the paper method' https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-when-you-can-expect-a-reply-from-hmrc - hence my earlier suggestion of making a complaint, possibly about misleading information in terms of when a reply can be expected, as well as actual action.

OP has said it was in this tax year, so must have been on or after 6 April.

bjorn_toby_wilde

So much easier to set up and use your HMRC online tax account.

I get that some people don’t have or want computers but surely anyone capable of posting on here is capable of doing this online?  As @dunstonh says, online takes 3 weeks and paper 3-6 months.

Do you guys just enjoy listening to the music whilst waiting for someone to answer? 😉

Oldmare1958

Hi guys, thank you for your replies 👍 much appreciated. We did register online we hadn't got the documents required 😕 2 main documents requested have recently expired 🙄. Hence the P55 form. A couple of good suggestions there will try those, made me laugh about the music aaaargh its soul destroying only good thing Ive cleaned the kitchen and done bloomin allsorts while waiting for someone to answer 😕🙄. Thanks again folks. Will battle on.......