Discrepancy State Pension 2020/2021

[Ifnotnow8]

My state pension from 21 May 2020 to 15 April 2021 according to DWP statement BR735 was £156.30 per week. The amount I should receive was £156.30 x 47 = £7346.10. The actual amount that was paid into my bank account for that period was £7212.13. I have written to DWP to query the shortfall of £133.97

In the meantime, can anyone explain/help the discrepancy?

Thanks

[mc2fool]

My state pension from 21 May 2020 to 15 April 2021 according to DWP statement BR735 was £156.30 per week. The amount I should receive was £156.30 x 47 = £7346.10. The actual amount that was paid into my bank account for that period was £7212.13. I have written to DWP to query the shortfall of £133.97

In the meantime, can anyone explain/help the discrepancy?

The shortfall is exactly 6 days worth of your pension, so it looks like you and they are counting slightly different start and/or end dates.

It could be 'cos state pension payouts are chargeable to tax in the tax year when you become entitled to them, not the tax year when you receive them, and maybe that's what their figure is reporting.

[Lootman]

It could be 'cos state pension payouts are chargeable to tax in the tax year when you become entitled to them, not the tax year when you receive them, and maybe that's what their figure is reporting.

Yes, funnily enough I asked my accountant recently about how the state pension is treated for tax purposes. He told me that you report just the weekly figure and that is then multiplied by 52 for the purposes of your tax return.

The actual amount you received during the tax year is therefore not relevant.

[bluedonkey]

Occasionally 53 weeks worth.

[XFool]

It could be 'cos state pension payouts are chargeable to tax in the tax year when you become entitled to them, not the tax year when you receive them, and maybe that's what their figure is reporting.

Yes, funnily enough I asked my accountant recently about how the state pension is treated for tax purposes. He told me that you report just the weekly figure and that is then multiplied by 52 for the purposes of your tax return.

The actual amount you received during the tax year is therefore not relevant.

I don't have an accountant - so possibly my tax return is more accurate?

When I started doing Tax Returns and received the SP I found this subject very vexing (I just like to get thing right...). The well known issue is that the DWP shows your SP as a weekly amount, HMRC requires an annual amount. I saw all sorts of conflicting recommendations - a popular one I remember was, I believe, 13 x the monthly payment. It wasn't helped by looking at the HMRC help pages for the paper Tax Return, the wording seemed to both vary year by year as well as differing from the online version. Some on TMF/LF advised working it out, adjusting for the actual payment dates, days in year. Enough already!

So I started a little spread sheet recording, year by year: 1) HMRC's quoted SP figure, 2) 13 x Monthly SP, 3) Sum of all SP received in Tax year

The latter figure simply ignores that some of a monthly payment may be due for the next or preceding year. Over the years, the obvious agreement is between the figures for numbers 1) and 3). In other words: The total of payments received in the tax year (simply ignoring which Tax year the SP is supposed to be for) is very close (even identical) to the HMRC's figure for your SP in the tax year. Any disagreement is very small and I use my figure if it does differ from the HMRC figure.

It is the simplest and most accurate method - going by its agreement with the HMRC's own figure. (The 52 x figure will be 'out' year by year - because there will generally not be 52, or 12/13, equal payments - but perhaps averages out over the four year leap cycle?)

[XFool]

...Mind you, I should perhaps add, the one year this method did fail(?) was the first year I received my SP. When I received 14 monthly payments in the tax year and the 13 x figure was nearer the HMRC figure for the year. Not sure that helps the OP. Sorry!

[Ifnotnow8]

Still not heard from DWP (wrote to them on 14 Nov 2021) with regards to the discrepancy. HMRC has already pre-populated the SP figure for 2020/21 in the self assessment form. The HMRC figure is different from what was actually paid into my bank & what I was supposed to receive according to DWP statement BR735 from 21 May 2020 to 15 April 2021.

As I am keen to complete my self assessment soon, would it be okay to use the figure pre-populated by HMRC?

Many thanks for all your replies.

[seagles]

Still not heard from DWP (wrote to them on 14 Nov 2021) with regards to the discrepancy. HMRC has already pre-populated the SP figure for 2020/21 in the self assessment form. The HMRC figure is different from what was actually paid into my bank & what I was supposed to receive according to DWP statement BR735 from 21 May 2020 to 15 April 2021.

As I am keen to complete my self assessment soon, would it be okay to use the figure pre-populated by HMRC?

Many thanks for all your replies.

I did. My figures did not correspond to HMRCs either. Now I owe them £1.60, damn....