UK Frozen Pensions

[CO-CO]

Apart from the kick on the nuts that is frozen pensions,the authorities are now trying to further shaft the expat UK pensioner.

DWP and HMRC are not joined up; a friend has just received a letter from (in response to my online query) stating "we confirm that we have been advised that your weekly pension is £147..."

It is not; it is £135 pw and has been frozen for several years.

My friend is now paying more tax on his occupational pension as a result of HMRC advising an incorrect tax code.

Add this to the list of things that p!ss you off ..

 

[EnglishAlan]

CoCo- It s the same problem I m having with HMRC.At one time (say 5 yrs ago)the tax code letter was always correct but since then its always wrong,as they increase my DWP
pyt by next yrs increase. After I write it usually takes about 3 mths to adjust the error.
This time(beg Apr)I wrote a stroppy letter & asked for the Odbunman s address to complain.
I pointed out there must be apprx 220 countries in this world & of those possibly 80 recve the annual increase & around the Eastern part of the world the only people living in the Phillippines receive the increases. Told them they need to re-program the Computer but the bosses in the Ivory Tower probably think it s cheaper to leave things as they are
& if any tax payers complain,we can adjust the error in a couple of months or so.

 

[CO-CO]

CoCo- It s the same problem I m having with HMRC.At one time (say 5 yrs ago)the tax code letter was always correct but since then its always wrong,as they increase my DWP
pyt by next yrs increase. After I write it usually takes about 3 mths to adjust the error.
This time(beg Apr)I wrote a stroppy letter & asked for the Odbunman s address to complain.
I pointed out there must be apprx 220 countries in this world & of those possibly 80 recve the annual increase & around the Eastern part of the world the only people living in the Phillippines receive the increases. Told them they need to re-program the Computer but the bosses in the Ivory Tower probably think it s cheaper to leave things as they are
& if any tax payers complain,we can adjust the error in a couple of months or so.

I helped my friend sort out his tax refund when we heard of this anomaly a year ago.

It was no surprise that his tax code changed and it really is the case that the left hand don't know what the right hand is doing.......or is it?

It took him well over an hour today to sort out the recent issue; he was bounced from DWP to HMRC each saying it was the others fault. Someone at DWP said that HMRC know of the 'frozen' problem and are aware they have a systems issue. That was denied by one person at HMRC but eventually my friend spoke with someone with knowledge of the subject.....he corrected the tax code and said he had adjusted something on the system to ensure that the problem is not repeated in future years.

There must be thousands of UK pensioners similarly affected.

The good news is that my friend used MY TELLO to call and it only cost him a few Baht.