Starting the process of accessing your DC pension
- Thread starter ren531
- Start date
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BoldonLad
Not part of the Elite
- Location
- South Tyneside
I retired in 2023 and have some modest annuities in place.
In February this year, I had a letter from HMRC saying that I owed then £410 in unpaid tax, which surprised me as the annuity providers according to thier P.60s appear to be taking tax off my annuities at source.
I contacted HMRC, eventually had to pay up the £410 and the lad I spoke to did some resetting of tax percentages on the gbiggeset annuity.
So fine I thought, all well until I've just had a further demand for £1,140 in unpaid tax about nine months after the first one and my tax code has changed twice in six months.
I'm going through all my accounts, income, annuity income and things just don't seem to add up.
I will be contacting HMRC asking to explain what is going on, but can anyone shed any light as to what may be happening please - ?
This sounds depressingly similar to my wife's experience, a number of years ago.
Her situation was not complex, a state pension, plus, a small NHS pension and a small private pension. HMTC managed to make a complete mess of it, she received bills for thousands of pounds (which she did not owe). After months of wrangling, things came to a head when she received no less than four notices of coding (all different) on the same day, in the same postal. delivery. At that point, she contacted our MP. Matters were resolved pretty quickly after that, HMRC actually owed her several hundred pounds!
midlandsgrimpeur
Senior Member
I am a good way from having to start thinking about accessing a pension, but I do plan for our financial future and have been more engaged with it as I approach middle age. One thing that confuses me is the numbers that get banded around on various financial websites in relation to how much you need for a "comfortable retirement".
I regularly see £40-55k per year banded about for a retired couple! Am I missing something? My wife and I have an annual expenditure including mortgage costs and holidays/luxuries which is nowhere near even £40k and without a mortgage (which should be achieved by retirement age) will be significantly less than that. Is someone just making these numbers up?
I regularly see £40-55k per year banded about for a retired couple! Am I missing something? My wife and I have an annual expenditure including mortgage costs and holidays/luxuries which is nowhere near even £40k and without a mortgage (which should be achieved by retirement age) will be significantly less than that. Is someone just making these numbers up?
midlandsgrimpeur
Senior Member
As you may have gleaned from our outgoings, we certainly don't do that! 😂
I think it is the use of "comfortable" that confuses me. I understand it is all subjective, but to need £50k a year if your kids are all financially independent and you are mortgage free would surely mean you are spending a lot on luxuries. Fair enough for those that do, but that is far beyond a "comfortable" existence surely?
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Maybe donate the smaller ones to a charity shop…
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
Model your own numbers, that's the best way. Our FA is encouraging us to hurry up and spend more before we're too old!
midlandsgrimpeur
Senior Member
Yes, I will do. I think when you see all these figures from supposed experts that are wildly different to your own, you start to question whether you are missing something!
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
Lots of spending planners available online (IIRC the Moneysavingexpert site has a good one) but we re-did ours until we were sure that it actually matched what we knew we'd be spending! Still helpful to analyse where your spend actually lies though.
wakemalcolm
Legendary Member
- Location
- Ratho
A quick heads up for anyone using Hargreaves Lansdown: we started a withdrawal today and despite them having received money from my wife's bank account they needed to run ID & bank validation (which as a loyal bank customer, she failed). The type of withdrawal she's looking for is also only supported by a paper process; we'll be lucky to get the money by the turn of the tax year.
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
Been there, have the T shirt, it's absolutely something for everyone to bear in mind. Let's see what the Ombudsman says (in about 6 months) about our case.
midlandsgrimpeur
Senior Member
That looks about right!.
So just did a rough calc of their figures for a moderate two person standard of living at £43,900.
This gives us a figure (on their numbers) of around £19.5k. This mentions two holidays but does not put a cost to either of those.
It does not account for; utilities, Council Tax, Insurance, petrol. Let's say we put a generous average as follows:
Council tax - £200 pcm
Energy - £120 pcm
Petrol - £40 pcm
Car/Home insurance - £750
This adds another £5k. So we have just short of £25k total expenditure at this point. Unless these two holidays are costing just shy of £20k total, I still don't know where they get nearly £45k from?
DCLane
Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
- Location
- Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
@midlandsgrimpeur - it's including car replacement, etc but I'd agree it seems a bit high.
They're added to the income plan at the moment and should mean I wouldn't need to draw down savings too much.
They're added to the income plan at the moment and should mean I wouldn't need to draw down savings too much.
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
They have all the details here if you're really bored!
https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/details
