Edo

Hi Elgin. Funny you replied to this the same day as I received a letter from HMRC to advise that they made a mistake in calculating the outstanding amounts for one of the previous years (because I worked and paid NI in the UK for a portion of that year), hence they issued a refund.

Surprised HMRC even bothered but I appreciate their honesty. Now I need someone to take this cheque to UK and deposit it in my bank before it expires

Snowy560

Who do you bank with here?

HSBC will let me deposit a Sterling cheque either into my CAD account or my GBP account.

Edo

I know HSBC Premier offers this service but unfortunately I do not have an account with HSBC in Canada. I have an account with them in the UK though.

Snowy560

Ask whoever your bank is if they will accept it into a CAD account. It's not for a fortune so a not great exchange rate is not such a big deal.

Pulaski

Banks often charge a flat fee for depositing a foreign cheque on top of the lousy exchange rate - it wouldn't surprise me if they wanted $20-$30 to accept it.

It should be possible to mail the cheque directly to his bank in the UK for deposit - the only cost would be the stamp and envelope.

Hasan78

just received HMRC letter to pay voluntary NI 2. only took them 1 month to reply as letter dated 30 March despite i receive it just now...how do others pay? will it be acceptable if I send a Canadian cheque to HMRC? thanks.

Snowy560

After two phone calls today to the Pensions people and HMRC, I don't really understand what I'm doing. So I intend fill in the forms as best I can, then write a cover letter explaining everything and hope HMRC just tells me how much to pay.

Hasan78

I think that should be good. I didn't bother calling them. I just filled the form and did a covering letter and got a reply in 1 month as how much to pay...

Snowy560

Thanks v much. I got a Pension Forecast first.

I can make up to another 5 years contributions.

My forecast pension is noticeably less than my husband's by about £30 pw although I was contracted out for a few years but he has more years contributions than I do.

Pulaski

How many years do each of you have?

Did your husband retire with a "full" pension, and if so, when? - He may have needed 30, 35, or 45 (I think) years depending on when he retired.

Snowy560

He hasn't retired yet. It's his future pension. He has 35 qualifying years and I have 34. However, I was contracted out for several years so I that must account for what seems to be a £50 pw differential. He isn't due to retire for 10 years. Thank you if you have any insights.

christmasoompa

All those who have mentioned waiting months for a pension forecast/forms, does that mean you can't just use the online form if abroad? https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

I'm just wondering, as it's instant for those in the UK who check it online. I'm open to bribes for checking and sending screenshots.

Pulaski

That seems a big hit to take for being contracted out, but I haven't seen any estimates for what the impact of being contracted out is. .... I was contracted out for about 12 years, and I am hoping the impact won't be as great as you are reporting.

Snowy560

I was contracted out for about 8-10 years.

Yes you have the option to get the pension forecast online but I wanted it in writing.

Almost Canadian

I have just used that site and it worked perfectly well for me.

It does not inform me of what contributions I need to make to make up for the years I have lived in Canada and it may be that there is another site to enable that to be done online.

As I don't wish to take away from UK taxpayers, I will not be doing so.