Self Assessment: Baffled by State Pension figures

dosh37

I am attempting to complete my Self Assessment for 2024/25.

The State Pension figure on the online form is already filled in by the system. The figure given is £13031.

I may be being stupid here but I cannot understand where that number comes from.

The HMRC website only gives weekly figures for the state pension. (=£221.20/wk).

£221.20 * 52 = £11502.

I retired in 2020 aged 65 with full NI contributions.

eastcorkram

.....and how much SP are you currently getting?

dosh37

eastcorkram said:

.....and how much SP are you currently getting?

If I look at my bank statement, I am receiving £1040.60/month

JoeCrystal

Do you mean £1040.60 per four weeks?

dosh37

JoeCrystal said:

Do you mean £1040.60 per four weeks?

The bank statements are monthly so I guess so.

dosh37

Hold on - I made a mistake. £1040.60 is the current figure.

I should have looked further back before April 2025.

The figure then is £1002.40/month

dosh37

dosh37 said:

Hold on - I made a mistake. £1040.60 is the current figure.

I should have looked further back before April 2025.

The figure then is £1002.40/month

£1002.40 / 4 * 52 = £13031

That matches the pre-filled in number on the SA form.

However it doesn't seem to agree with the weekly figures on HMRC website.

p00hsticks

dosh37 said:

dosh37 said:

Hold on - I made a mistake. £1040.60 is the current figure.

I should have looked further back before April 2025.

The figure then is £1002.40/month

£1002.40 / 4 * 52 = £13031

That matches the pre-filled in number on the SA form.

However it doesn't seem to agree with the weekly figures on HMRC website.

For 2024/25 1002.40 / 4 is £250.60 - HMRC figure quoted I suspect is £221.20 ?
For 2025-26 1040.60 / is  £260.15 - HMRC figure £230.25 ? 

It looks like you are getting more that the 'maximum' new State Pension amounts that are shown on the HMRC website.

This will most likely be because you have an additional  'Protected Payment' as a result either of having been contracted in to SERPS/ S2P prior to the introduction of the new State Pension and/or having inherited some additional Pension from a late spouse. You should be getting a letter annually from DWP to tell you exactly how your State Pensioo is made up.  

Albermarle

dosh37 said:

JoeCrystal said:

Do you mean £1040.60 per four weeks?

The bank statements are monthly so I guess so.

Because the payments are every 28 days ( not once a month) you actually get 13 a year. So one month each year you will get the payment twice. One very close to the start of the month and one very close to the end.

SnowMan

Yes the reason you are being paid more than £221.20pw in 2024/2025 (and more than £230.25pw in 2025/2026) will because you have a protected payment. 

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/what-youll-get

If you’re getting more than £230.25 a week
If you paid into the Additional State Pension before 2016 and would have got more State Pension under the old rules, you’ll get a ‘protected payment’. This is paid on top of the full rate of new State Pension.

You can tell as the protected payment will have only increased at 1.7% (i.e CPI) at April 2025. Numerically

230.25+(250.60-221.20)*1.017 = 230.25 + 29.90 = 260.15pw 

which agrees your 2025/2026 weekly amount

As I understand it the prepopulated amount for 2024/2025 is wrong. The taxable state pension for 2024/2025 tax year should be 1 week at the 2023/2024 rate and 51 weeks at the 2024/2025 rate, and not 52 weeks at the 2024/2025 rate as is prepopulated.

The 2023/2024 rate working back is 231.40pw (= 203.85 + (250.60 - 221.20)/1.067)

where 6.7% was the April 2024 CPI increase to the protected payment.

And so the pre-populated 2024/2025 tax return figure should be corrected from £13,031 to £13,012 (= 250.60 x 51 + 231.40)

I could be wrong. But I'm sure someone will correct me if I am.   

molerat

They always seem to use 52 x new for calculating tax, the same is shown in your tax account for your annual pension.  51 x new & 1 x old is only used for the tax code.