A senior pensions and retirement analyst is calling on HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to simplify its system after thousands of older people reclaimed over £22 million in overpaid tax.
Helen Morrissey at Hargreaves Lansdown has highlighted how between January 1 and March 31, 2022, HMRC paid out £22,317,529 to people who overpaid tax when they accessed their pensions flexibly - between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022 HMRC has repaid over £100 million in overpaid tax.
When someone accesses their pension flexibly, they are taxed on a ‘Month 1’ basis which means they are treated as receiving that sum every month - this can lead to tax overpayments.
They must fill in one of three forms to reclaim the overpaid tax. During the first quarter of the year, HMRC processed 7,412 claims for overpaid tax.
Helen Morrissey explained: “Pension Freedoms have been in place for several years now and the issue of overpaid tax has always been a problem, yet we continue to see thousands of people overpaying by hundreds of millions of pounds every year. There must be an easier way for people to be able to access their hard-earned pension cash without being clobbered by tax that they then need to work out how to reclaim.”
HMRC published the latest pension flexibility statistics in the April edition of the Pension schemes newsletter which states the department processed over 7,400 forms in the last quarter.
Helen continued: “Over the entire Pension Freedoms period this must mount up to way over 100,000 applications as people reclaim their own money. It must come as anything from a nasty shock to those who aren’t expecting it, to the annoyance and inconvenience for those who do.
“Pension Freedoms are embedded into the retirement landscape now and it is time the system was reformed to reflect changed behaviours and make it easier for people to access their pensions.”
An HMRC spokesperson said: “Nobody will overpay tax as a result of taking advantage of pension flexibility. Individuals can claim back any overpayment due to an emergency tax code being applied immediately and we will repay this in 30 days.
“Anyone who does not claim will be automatically repaid at the end of the year.”
HMRC repaid tax breakdown
From January 1, 2022 to March 31, 2022, HMRC processed:
- P55: 4,693 forms
- P53Z: 1,903 forms
- P50Z: 816 forms
- Total value repaid: £22,317,529
Claim back a flexibly accessed pension overpayment - P55 claim form.
Claim a tax refund when you've taken a small pension lump sum - PP53Z claim form.
Claim a tax refund if you've stopped work and flexibly accessed your pension - P50Z claim form.
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