Self Assessment

Soldato
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19 Jan 2003
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Completed my self assessment this morning.

"Tax doesn't have to be taxing"....hmm...

Anyway, I have the guide which helped.

On all of my paperwork I cannot seem to find any mention of where to send the tax return? I have the address of my local tax office, this it?

Any ideas?
 
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Soldato
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Berkland
Just to bump this thread instead of creating a new one. I have done my SA, but am reviewing it before submission, and just realised that I have never added my pension details to my SA before (this could be a cockup on my behalf). Reading about Child Benefit and ways to reduce the payback on it for above 50K PAYE, it says that pension payments can be used to help reduce the payback.

Looking at the SA, you have 4 parts in the Pension Payments:
Payments to registered pension schemes (Also known as PPR) where basic rate tax relief will be claimed by your pension provider (called Relief at source). Enter the payments and basic rate tax:£

Payments to a retirement annuity contract (Also known as RAR) where basic rate tax relief will not be claimed by your provider:£
Do not include PPR values here

Payments to your employer's scheme which were not deducted from your pay before tax:£

Payments to an overseas pension scheme which is not UK-registered which are eligible for tax relief and were not deducted from your pay before tax:

So I pay into a pension every month, and it is not before tax, its after tax. Its a company scheme with Scottish widows. Am I right in thinking I should be putting the amount I have paid into that pension pot, plus the 20% that the scheme would have added to that, in the first box? This should credit me back a couple quid on my SA.
 
Caporegime
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On the hoods
A company scheme deducting pension payments after tax is unusual. You occasionally see it if you’re very low paid as it can be better from a NIC point of view, but if that were the case you wouldn’t be worrying about your £50k child benefit reduction...
 
Soldato
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A company scheme deducting pension payments after tax is unusual. You occasionally see it if you’re very low paid as it can be better from a NIC point of view, but if that were the case you wouldn’t be worrying about your £50k child benefit reduction...

Maybe I'm getting the terminology wrong here. I say it's a company scheme because I pay in and then they pay some more on top, but that's about it. I believe I have heard it called a stake holder pension. Am I right in thinking I should be declaring this on the SA for my benefit? I guess I should because I pay tax above the 20% rate, and thus that extra tax paid on the amount I pay into my pension would never get claimed back by me otherwise.
 
Associate
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Do you see it as a deduction on your payslip?

If not, and you pay in to the pension from your bank account every month then yes, it should go on your tax return. Generally whoever the pension company are will top up the tax that had already been taken (only at the basic rate though) and claim back from HMRC on your behalf, so any rebate from HMRC specifically related to your pension will be the difference between the basic rate they have already claimed for you and the higher rate if you pay it.

If you don't pay the higher rate of tax, it's unlikely there will be a rebate as the pension company will have claimed it and stuck it in your pension pot.
 
Soldato
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Do you see it as a deduction on your payslip?

This is the key question. If you make payments to the scheme outside of your monthly payroll (e.g. via bank standing order or direct debit) then you would be paying the pension out of your net pay, and therefore need to declare it on your tax return. If it comes out of your pay, then you can skip it as it will already be factored into your P60 (assuming it is via salary sacrifice).
 
Associate
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I have a coupe of question that are quite easy to answer but I need to make sure.

Do you think I could phone a local accountant and pay them for advice altho I'm doing it myself?

I have a small business and used to pay them a lot but am keen on doing it all myself now.
 
Soldato
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World
Just to bump this thread instead of creating a new one. I have done my SA, but am reviewing it before submission, and just realised that I have never added my pension details to my SA before (this could be a cockup on my behalf). Reading about Child Benefit and ways to reduce the payback on it for above 50K PAYE, it says that pension payments can be used to help reduce the payback.

Looking at the SA, you have 4 parts in the Pension Payments:


So I pay into a pension every month, and it is not before tax, its after tax. Its a company scheme with Scottish widows. Am I right in thinking I should be putting the amount I have paid into that pension pot, plus the 20% that the scheme would have added to that, in the first box? This should credit me back a couple quid on my SA.

Yes amount taken off your payslip plus 20%
 
Soldato
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Somewhere in Asia
I have a coupe of question that are quite easy to answer but I need to make sure.

Do you think I could phone a local accountant and pay them for advice altho I'm doing it myself?

I have a small business and used to pay them a lot but am keen on doing it all myself now.

I complete one every year and it is relatively easy if you initially go slowly through it.

Personally I use one of the paid software programs that I need to buy a licence for every year (about 15 to 20 quid), that has a great help file on it. All online, it links straight to your own SA profile

HMRC have also been great in the past when I have phoned them. but I am guessing that their phone lines are log rammed about now as people race to complete their forms.
 
Soldato
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Rollergirl
Just to bump this thread instead of creating a new one. I have done my SA, but am reviewing it before submission, and just realised that I have never added my pension details to my SA before (this could be a cockup on my behalf). Reading about Child Benefit and ways to reduce the payback on it for above 50K PAYE, it says that pension payments can be used to help reduce the payback.

Looking at the SA, you have 4 parts in the Pension Payments:


So I pay into a pension every month, and it is not before tax, its after tax. Its a company scheme with Scottish widows. Am I right in thinking I should be putting the amount I have paid into that pension pot, plus the 20% that the scheme would have added to that, in the first box? This should credit me back a couple quid on my SA.

My pension is deducted from my wages, with me contributing 5% and the company matches it. The pension management company claim the 20% relief automatically but I need to claim the additional relief due to being a higher tax rate payer. I claim it via self assessment every year.

I had a similar conversation in the pension thread last night.

Edit: I just noticed you haven't been claiming it; do you know you can claim back the last 4 years?
 
Soldato
Joined
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Berkland
My pension is deducted from my wages, with me contributing 5% and the company matches it. The pension management company claim the 20% relief automatically but I need to claim the additional relief due to being a higher tax rate payer. I claim it via self assessment every year.

I had a similar conversation in the pension thread last night.

Edit: I just noticed you haven't been claiming it; do you know you can claim back the last 4 years?

Really!? Thats good to know!!! I think I shall be doing that then.

Yeah, this is a similar setup to me. I pay my pension through my payslip and my company matches up to a certain amount. On the left of my payslip is my monthly pay before tax, and under that is my child care voucher payment (which is salary sacrifice). On the right of my payslip is the NI, my Tax, and then my Pension.

So what does that mean? Is my pension coming out pre tax, I doubt it, as my pension provider then adds 20% on top of my payments in, as detailed in my statement. This must mean it comes out post tax?

So when you fill your SA in, do you just total your Pension contributions (not including the company payments on top of mine), and also the 20% added by the pension provider into the first option (the PPR)?
 
Soldato
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It's four years, and I have a template letter you can use. I'll post it later.

Thanks! Much appreciated. Am I right about my original question then...

when you fill your SA in, do you just total your Pension contributions (not including the company payments on top of mine), and also the 20% added by the pension provider into the first option (the PPR)?
 
Soldato
Joined
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4,955
Location
Widnes
My pension is deducted from my wages, with me contributing 5% and the company matches it. The pension management company claim the 20% relief automatically but I need to claim the additional relief due to being a higher tax rate payer. I claim it via self assessment every year.

I had a similar conversation in the pension thread last night.

Edit: I just noticed you haven't been claiming it; do you know you can claim back the last 4 years?

You shouldn't be claiming salary sacrifice pension contributions on your self assessment...
 
Soldato
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Rollergirl
You shouldn't be claiming salary sacrifice pension contributions on your self assessment...

His won't be salary sacrifice if his pension company is paying 20% into it.

OK,

Before I start giving out template letters and advising this fella on how to claim his last 4 years back, can we nail this issue regarding salary sacrifice? It's niggling at me that it's been challenged a couple of times now.

I am weekly paid.
My wage slip has all the info on it, structured like this (personal info removed, obviously):

1. Total gross pay = £****

2. Deductions =
  • NI A = £***
  • PAYE = £***
  • Legal & General = £***

Total Paid = 1-2
 
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