HMRC reduced my tax bill from £143,000 to zero

I was not impressed when I received my latest HMRC tax code, something was wrong.  Seriously wrong.  Turns out HMRC had my pension income down as £359,000 for the year. So this post is how HMRC reduced my tax bill from £143,000 to zero.

First off, let me tell you my income never has been anywhere near £359,000 for a year and this year I’m aiming for my taxable income to be under £12,500, which is my tax-free allowance.

Turns out the HMRC computer had clocked that I was withdrawing a little money from an AVC pension and this seems to have caused the glitch.  I am only taking a small amount and combined with Rachel’s modest salary and raiding our savings we get our income for the year.  All carefully managed so we don’t need to pay any income tax.

The tax code notice said if I thought it was wrong, to log on to the online account.  I did that and there was no button to press – how frustrating!

So I called HMRC

I wasn’t really very keen on calling HMRC, I was anticipating blocking 3 hours of time in my calendar for this.

The call started by talking to the automated telephone answering computer.  The usual National Insurance number, date of birth, name and so on.  Then, as if by magic, I got through to a human being!

I explained the problem and a little of my circumstances. Straight away the HMRC person could see the issue and fixed it in a couple of minutes.  I was amazed!

I even said how I was amazed, saying how I was expecting a tortuous experience and how she had made it so easy.  Our conversation went on for a few more minutes and she said how I’m the same as most folk.  We all seem to expect the worse with HMRC and yet it is often fairly painless.

So credit to HMRC for being so approachable and, once you’re through the security measures, everything was sorted so easily!