Wrong tax code overpayment

RG2015

I have just looked at my March pension figure on my personal tax account which was posted today. Even though it is paid on the 28th of the month it is generally submitted to HMRC in the first week of each month.

The tax deducted was way above what I expected so I contacted my pension provider who said my tax code had been changed.

I was not aware of this and further digging revealed that HMRC had sent my 2026/2027 tax code to them on 28th February. Apparently they only hold one tax code and this was applied to my March payment.

It looks like my provider is blaming HMRC so I wil have to contact them. I guess they will say my provider is to blame.

I am now unsure if I will be able to get this amount refunded this year. Last year I overpaid tax due to an HMRC mess up and despite several calls to HMRC in Feb 2025 could not get a refund. The refund eventually came when my P800 was issued on 7 Dec 2025.

I fear the same thing will happen again with my current overpayment.

eskbanker

HMRC had sent my 2026/2027 tax code to them on 28th February. Apparently they only hold one tax code and this was applied to my March payment

If your pension provider used a 2026/27 tax code for a 2025/26 payment then that puts them squarely at fault IMHO.

RG2015

Just realised that it was a double whammy as the 25/26 code was an MX code whereas the 26/27 was just M.

Therefore the tax deduction included a cumulative adjustment.

I have gone back to my pension provider and asked for them to correct is as there are still 18 working days to go before the actual payment is made. The customer services person has escalated this so let's hope they can make the necessary correction in time.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

A pension company using the tax code for a future tax year against a payment for the current tax year is virtually unheard of.

Hard to understand quite how they got that so wrong

RG2015

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81909390#Comment_81909390

It is a major multinational, specialized pensions and benefits administrator, managing services for 7 million individuals across 1,100 companies.

One would think they should know what they are doing.

RG2015

My pension provider has refunded me the tax overpayment. It appears that many of their clients had the wrong tax code used.

The entry on my HMRC personal tax account online is interesting though. A second entry for 28 March has been entered with zeros for taxable income and tax paid. Underneath this was the following:

“Your pension provider sent the individual and total amounts in the table above.

The individual amounts do not add up to the total. When this happens we use the total amounts as your figures for the tax year.”

The total includes the amount I have been refunded and is correct. It seems the HMRC system does not allow for a negative amount.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81909499#Comment_81909499

Any chance you could name the administrator in question (although I could probably guess)?

RG2015

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81947223#Comment_81947223

It is Aptia. I was somewhat reluctant to “name and shame”, particularly after dazed and confused’s damning indictment.

However, the gentleman that rang me up was excellent with his genuine apology and immediate payment promise. He also expressed that his overriding feeling was embarrassment on behalf of his employer.

In the end the correction payment was in my bank account a day before my main pension payment.

Sometimes the best indicator of a quality company is how they respond to mistakes rather than the mistake itself.

flaneurs_lobster

It is Aptia. I was somewhat reluctant to “name and shame”, particularly after dazed and confused’s damning indictment.

As I thought.

Purely coincidentally, they wrote to me this week to tell me about their brand-new shiny online system that I can log into to do pension admin stuff.

They have misspelt my name.