HMRC Newsletter 92

HMRC has recently published Newsletter 92 which covers:

• Pension flexibility statistics
• Registration statistics
• Relief at source for Scottish Income Tax
• Drawdown pension tables
• New pensions online service
• Paying tax to HMRC
• Lifetime allowance service

Of notable interest:

Pension flexibility statistics
From 1 July to 30 September 2017 HMRC processed the following forms to repay income tax paid in pension income:

• P55 = 8,489 forms
• P53Z = 5,944 forms
• P50Z = 1,735 forms

Total value repaid: £36,875,395

New Pensions Online service
In Pension Schemes Newsletter 90 HMRC explained that they were bringing forward transferring existing scheme administrator data onto the new Pensions Online Digital Service to April 2018. They explained that this was to allow existing pension scheme administrators to register new schemes on the new service.

Scheme administrators were asked to log into Pension Schemes Online and check that their details are complete and up to date.

It has been noted that there are still a lot of scheme administrators who have not logged onto the current online service since April 2015. HMRC urge those that have not logged in to do so to update their details because if the information is insufficient they may have to register as a new user on the new service from April 2018.

Accounting for Tax Return – paying tax to HMRC
HMRC note that in some cases where tax is paid to HMRC the relevant charge reference has been missing, which has resulted in additional charges because the payments are unable to be matched up.

HMRC reminds those making payments that “The charge reference is provided on screen once you have successfully submitted an Accounting for Tax Return. It is also available on the scheme summary page 24 hours later. If any interest has accrued, we will issue a letter containing a separate charge reference for the interest.”

Lifetime allowance service
HMRC remind people that it is only possible to apply for IP16 and FP16 through the appropriate links and not directly through their personal tax account. Those who have applied will be able to see their reference numbers on their personal tax account even though the application was made separately.