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HMRC sending letters to 1.4 million Brits who need to pay up

HMRC sending letters to 1.4 million Brits who need to pay up

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issues the routine letters every year to people who need to pay tax on their income that has not been taxed through Pay As You Earn (PAYE) or Self Assessment.
The letters provide a detailed assessment of unpaid tax on income above the annual personal allowance and guidance on how customers can pay tax owed.
Download the HMRC app to manage your money easily.
When you're on it, you're on it.
Download today. 👇https://t.co/8NJGh489Xv pic.twitter.com/BBxflDIqNx — HM Revenue & Customs (@HMRCgovuk) July 29, 2025
A Simple Assessment can be issued for a number of reasons, including where:
There is tax to pay on interest on savings or dividends Customers received more tax-free allowances than they were entitled to Customers have a second income they haven't paid tax on Too little tax has been paid Tax is due to be paid on pension income
If customers receive a letter either through the post or online in their Personal Tax Account, they can go to GOV.UK to find out more, check the assessment against their own records and pay any tax owed.
The payment deadline is 31 January 2026, unless an alternative date is stated in the letter.
Simple Assessment payments can be made in full, or in instalments before the deadline.
Payments can be made using the free and secure HMRC app, online via GOV.UK, by bank transfer or cheque. A full list of payment methods can be found on GOV.UK.
HMRC has produced a detailed guide to help pensioners understand their Simple Assessment.
Simple Assessment letters are automatically generated and sent to customers when HMRC receives information from employers, Department for Work and Pensions, customers themselves and from banks, building societies and financial institutions that shows tax is due.
Recommended reading:
Anyone who believes an error has been made in the assessment should get in touch with HMRC within 60 days to query it. More information on how to contact HMRC is available on GOV.UK.
If HMRC agrees an assessment was incorrect, customers will be sent an updated letter with details of how to pay by the deadline.
If HMRC believes the assessment was correct, customers can go to GOV.UK to appeal within 30 days of the date of the decision letter.
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Retirees pull billions from pension pots to escape Reeves's tax raid
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time17 hours ago

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Retirees pull billions from pension pots to escape Reeves's tax raid

Middle-class Britons risk a retirement 'disaster' after a record £5bn was pulled from pension pots in the wake of Rachel Reeves's inheritance tax raid. Official figures showed 672,000 retirees, representing roughly 5pc of all pensioners, pulled £5bn from their pots in the first three months of this year. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said the amount taken from retirement funds was 25pc higher than the same quarter a year ago, with 13pc more people withdrawing money. It means withdrawals during the period were the highest since George Osborne introduced pension freedoms a decade ago. It comes after the Chancellor announced in her maiden Budget last October that pension pots would no longer be exempt from inheritance tax from April 2027, making them subject to a levy of up to 40pc. Baroness Altmann, a former Tory pensions minister, urged the Chancellor to reverse the policy, warning that many more people would choose to withdraw money from their retirement pot as soon as possible, creating a 'pensioner poverty time bomb'. Sweeping changes mean retirees can now withdraw unlimited amounts from their pot as soon as they hit 55. The figures also revealed a 50pc increase in the number of octogenarians taking money out of their pensions over the course of last year with the amount withdrawn by those aged 81 and over up by 80pc to £360m. 'It's a disaster' The Chancellor hopes to raise £1.5bn from her decision to bring pensions within the scope of inheritance tax. Pension withdrawals from defined contribution pots above the 25pc tax-free lump sum incur an income tax charge of 20pc for basic rate taxpayers and a 40pc levy at the higher rate. The changes mean heirs will be subject to both inheritance and income tax at the marginal rate from 2027. 'It's a disaster,' Lady Altmann said, adding that she expected withdrawals to accelerate as more people became aware of the looming inheritance tax charge. She added that the 'draconian' way the policy was introduced was storing up a crisis for the future, and said she was pushing for changes in the Lords that would see beneficiaries charged a maximum 20pc 'pension recovery tax' instead on inherited pots. Lady Altmann said: 'This policy could end up being as damaging to workplace pensions as Gordon Brown's tax rate was for DB [defined benefit] pensions. 'I honestly think this is an existential threat to the long-term survival of our DC [defined contribution] pensions, because there's a clear incentive to take the money out as soon as you possibly can.' She added that this would leave many middle-class families in danger of not leaving themselves enough to fund their retirement. Lady Altmann said: 'This IHT [inheritance tax] imposition will ensure that more and more people – especially those who don't have massive amounts of money – will just say, 'Why on earth would I want to lose two thirds of my pension to the taxman? I'll just take it out as soon as I can.' 'Those who build up, say, between £200,000 and £300,000 over their working life are now in danger of having a real financial incentive not to keep money in their pensions for their later life and then end up in poverty.' 'Taking a big hit' Guy Opperman, another former pensions minister, said: 'Pensions are taking a big hit from the Government's actions. 'The consequences of this policy are clear: people will save less for their pension and will withdraw more. This will also affect the ability to pass money on. There is time for the Government to think again and they should. It is very short-term.' Jamie Jenkins, director of policy at pensions giant Royal London, which manages more than £170bn of client cash, said there was already clear evidence that people were changing their retirement planning ahead of the changes. He said: 'There is increased interest from advisers and their clients in how they can mitigate the potential inheritance tax bill.' Claire Trott, at wealth managers St James's Place, added: 'Every individual's circumstances are different, but IHT changes to pensions have certainly triggered more conversations about gifting strategies and whether it makes sense to start drawing from pensions earlier.' An HM Treasury spokesman said: 'We continue to incentivise pensions savings for their intended purpose – of funding retirement instead of them being openly used as a vehicle to transfer wealth – and more than 90pc of estates each year will continue to pay no inheritance tax after these and other changes.'

HMRC sending letters to 1.4 million Brits who need to pay up
HMRC sending letters to 1.4 million Brits who need to pay up

Western Telegraph

timea day ago

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HMRC sending letters to 1.4 million Brits who need to pay up

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issues the routine letters every year to people who need to pay tax on their income that has not been taxed through Pay As You Earn (PAYE) or Self Assessment. The letters provide a detailed assessment of unpaid tax on income above the annual personal allowance and guidance on how customers can pay tax owed. Download the HMRC app to manage your money easily. When you're on it, you're on it. Download today. 👇 — HM Revenue & Customs (@HMRCgovuk) July 29, 2025 A Simple Assessment can be issued for a number of reasons, including where: There is tax to pay on interest on savings or dividends Customers received more tax-free allowances than they were entitled to Customers have a second income they haven't paid tax on Too little tax has been paid Tax is due to be paid on pension income If customers receive a letter either through the post or online in their Personal Tax Account, they can go to to find out more, check the assessment against their own records and pay any tax owed. The payment deadline is 31 January 2026, unless an alternative date is stated in the letter. Simple Assessment payments can be made in full, or in instalments before the deadline. Payments can be made using the free and secure HMRC app, online via by bank transfer or cheque. A full list of payment methods can be found on HMRC has produced a detailed guide to help pensioners understand their Simple Assessment. Simple Assessment letters are automatically generated and sent to customers when HMRC receives information from employers, Department for Work and Pensions, customers themselves and from banks, building societies and financial institutions that shows tax is due. Recommended reading: Anyone who believes an error has been made in the assessment should get in touch with HMRC within 60 days to query it. More information on how to contact HMRC is available on If HMRC agrees an assessment was incorrect, customers will be sent an updated letter with details of how to pay by the deadline. If HMRC believes the assessment was correct, customers can go to to appeal within 30 days of the date of the decision letter.

HMRC made a mistake — but won't give us our £15k back
HMRC made a mistake — but won't give us our £15k back

Times

timea day ago

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HMRC made a mistake — but won't give us our £15k back

My mother died last year and I have been settling her estate with help from my brother-in-law. It was relatively simple: she had some investments and a mortgage-free house. But it has been time-consuming. Filling in all the paperwork took us an entire day, and we are professionals (he is an accountant and I am a retired judge). Even then we had problems because HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) gave us different information about what tax we should pay. After probate was granted in October, we spoke to two estate agents who estimated that the house was worth £550,000. We told HMRC this was the probate value and we also put it up for sale at that price. Several months later we ended up selling the house for £627,000. We sent a form to HMRC to correct the probate value to the sold price. We then calculated the inheritance tax (IHT) due as roughly £27,800 and immediately paid HMRC to avoid any interest charges. But then HMRC wrote to us to say that we should pay capital gains tax (CGT) instead. We were convinced that this advice was wrong, so we each called HMRC separately, but were both told that we should pay CGT. HMRC then sent a CGT calculation saying we owed £14,965, which we paid. We then asked HMRC to return the IHT payment. Twice we were told that the refund was in progress but that was weeks ago and we still don't have it. After chasing HMRC for a third time we were told that we should have paid IHT after all. It said an IHT calculation would be sent, but we are still waiting for that. We are so confused. We just want to pay the correct tax and get a refund on the other and address supplied I was so sorry to hear how painstaking the probate process had been for your family. It sounded emotionally and practically difficult enough without HMRC adding to your burden by giving you conflicting information. An estate is exempt from IHT on the first £325,000, which increases to £500,000 if the person who has died passes on their main home to children or grandchildren. Married couples and civil partners can leave assets to each other free of tax, and also inherit each other's tax-free allowances. Your father died in March 1990 when the IHT allowance was £118,000. But he had left this amount to you and your sisters on his death, which meant that his tax-free allowance had already been used up and could not be inherited by your mother. The good news is that even though he died before the residence allowance was introduced in 2017, your family could claim this extra £175,000 allowance from his estate because his wife had died after this date (yet another example of how complex the rules are). This meant that up to £675,000 of your mother's estate was free of tax. 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You said: 'We never thought the problem was a particularly difficult one, but we were getting nowhere and would no doubt still be in limbo without your help.' • How to gift property — your questions answered In March last year my husband and I went on the holiday of a lifetime to Chile. We booked several internal flights through All was going well until we tried to check in for our flight from Patagonia to Santiago. It looked like our flight didn't exist. After logging into the airline's website, we discovered that the flight had been rescheduled and we had been reallocated to a flight for the previous day, so we had unknowingly missed it. There was no way we could have caught that flight as we had been hiking in a remote location. told me that it had sent me an email about the change but I have searched my inbox, including my junk folder, and I can't find any evidence that it contacted me about this. We were incredibly stressed when we found out. 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When I spoke to Gotogate's parent company, Etraveli Group, it claimed it had emailed you on February 20 last year to tell you that your flight was leaving a day earlier than planned. I couldn't get to the bottom of why you didn't get that message. Etraveli Group said: 'While we acknowledge the customer's claim that she did not see this message, and understand the stress and consequences this situation caused, the communication was sent and delivered correctly from our end.' • Cancelled flight fiasco on has cost me £3,600 While it did request a refund from the airline, usually when a customer misses a flight the ticket is seen as 'used'. I suspected this was why a refund from the airline wasn't forthcoming. But thankfully after I explained the situation to the airline, it sent a refund of £346.99 to which it then passed on to you. It was odd that you were missing the remaining £30.92 which you had paid for checked-in bags, and it was only after I chased all three companies that you got this payment. said: 'We can see that the airline made a schedule change which is not uncommon in the aviation industry. Our partner, Etraveli Group, informed the customer of the change and provided options to accept the new flight or request a full refund.' As a gesture of goodwill, has given you £189 travel credit to make up for the extra cost of the replacement flight. While this left a shortfall of nearly £17, you were satisfied with this. • £1,495,607 — the amount Your Money Matters has saved readers so far this year If you have a money problem you would like Katherine Denham to investigate, email yourmoneymatters@ Please include a phone number

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