Tax on pension

[spaceman07]

I've been receiving my royal mail pension for a few years now and have been paying tax on it. If i left the job and my income is no longer above the tax threshold, should the tax on my pension stop immediately or will it take some time. If so when and how long?

[yellowbelly]

I've been receiving my royal mail pension for a few years now and have been paying tax on it. If i left the job and my income is no longer above the tax threshold, should the tax on my pension stop immediately or will it take some time. If so when and how long?

HMRC will probably not catch up until the end of the tax year (in their eyes you could probably get another job before the end of the tax year!) and even then it might be a few months if they calculate everything correctly and if you're not in employment (meaning you wouldn't get a 'refund' of the tax through an adjusted PAYE tax code next year) they should send you a cheque instead.

If you need the tax paid back urgently I'd get in touch with them, online chat might be a quicker option.

From recent experience dealing with a deceased relatives estate, even simple matters are painful and slow to get resolved with HMRC! When I offered to pay an outstanding amount, there was no electronic method of doing it, I had to wait several weeks for a letter of details of how to pay - then send a letter with a cheque in it which didn't get cashed for two months!