How to Claim a Tax Refund in the Current Tax Year?

13/01/2024 - 6 minutes read
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How to claim a tax refund in the current tax year is a frequently asked question by taxpayers who have flexibly accessed part of their pension pot during the tax year and the pension provider has deducted too much tax.

How to Claim a Tax Refund in the Current Tax Year?

How to Claim a Tax Refund in the Current Tax Year

How to claim a tax refund in the current tax year if you have paid too much Income tax?

If you’ve paid too much Income Tax on a flexibly accessed pension payment you can claim a refund if all of the following apply:

  • – you’ve flexibly accessed your pension pot but not emptied it
  • – you will not be taking regular or flexible payments before the end of the tax year
  • – the pension body is unable to make a tax refund

If you’re not a UK resident for tax purposes, you do not need to fill in this form. You can check how to make a claim under a double taxation agreement.

If you’ve:

How to claim a tax refund in the current tax year – First step

HMRC will need to know about income you expect to receive in the tax year you got your flexibly accessed pension payment (6 April to 5 April).

You should:

  • – Tell HMRC about any other income you expect to get
  • – Use estimated figures if you do not have final figures
  • – Use whole numbers rounded down to the nearest pound

HMRC make checks at the end of the tax year and contact you if the amount is different.

Keep any paperwork relating to your claim until HMRC have completed these checks.

How to claim a tax refund in the current tax year if you fill in a Self Assessment tax return

If you fill in a Self Assessment (SA) tax return:

  • – do not include any estimated Self Assessment income in this claim, unless you want HMRC to include this in calculating your repayment
  • – you’ll still need to pay any balancing payments owed and payments on account when due — you can ask HMRC to use your repayment to lower your payments on account
  • – include any repayment you’ve received on your next Self Assessment tax return
  • – you must let HMRC know when you no longer need to complete a Self Assessment tax return

If you’ve got Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Self Assessment income, HMRC will not include any Self Assessment income in calculating your repayment, unless you ask them to do so.

How to claim a tax refund online

To use the online service, you need a Government Gateway user ID and password. If you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you use the service.

Start now

How to claim a tax refund in the current tax year if you do not wish to start your claim online

You can use a paper form P55 instead of the online claim process.

What happens next

HMRC will work out any repayment due to you and make the repayment by Faster Payments into a bank account held in your name or your nominee’s.

At the end of the tax year HMRC will check again to make sure they have refunded the correct amount and will contact you if this is different.

Find out when you can expect to receive a reply from HMRC to a query or request you’ve made.

Information you’ll need to claim

For the tax year you’re claiming for, you’ll need to tell HMRC:

  • – the name, address and PAYE reference of your employer — if you expect to receive income from paid employment
  • – the name, address and PAYE reference of your pension provider

For the same year, you’ll need to tell HMRC how much you expect to received from:

  • – employment income
  • – taxable benefits from your employer
  • – any UK pension income
  • – any pension flexibility lump sum payments
  • – self-employment profits made — if there are any
  • – taxed and untaxed interest on UK savings and investment income
  • – taxable state benefits — such as Employment and Support Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, State Pension
  • – dividends income from UK companies
  • – any other income — including property, trusts, commissions
  • – Gift Aid payments
  • – any other income

How can MCL Accountants help with your queries on how to claim a tax refund in the current tax year?

Contact MCL Accountants on 01702 593 029 if you would like us to provide you with a quote to act as your agents and answer your queries on how to claim a tax refund in the current tax year or if you need any assistance with the preparation and submission of your business accounts or self-assessment tax returns to HMRC.