iceflow

At some point in the not too distant future I should start getting a pension from past UK employment. If I wanted to be proactive and inquire as to my UK tax code on the books currently should I write to my last tax office, Milton Keynes, or is there a non UK resident number to HMRC I can call? Now I know I can look this up and I will, but it's always good to see if there is someone who has been in a similar position and has had success in calling the UK.

Thanks

Pulaski

Why do you need your UK tax code. As you're resident in the US you won't, under most circumstances, pay tax in the UK on your pension anyway.

mikelincs

State Pension, even at the full amount, is not taxable in the UK as it is under the personal allowance.

iceflow

I thought I'd seen on a previous post somewhere that if your tax code with HMRC is.....'NT'?.....then there is no need to go through the process of filling out forms (8802?) and sending them off to the IRS who then forward them onto HMRC, as no tax will be deducted from the UK pension payments anyway. So if I know upfront what tax code they have or my past employer will use it could cut down on the paperwork.

iceflow

This is not State Pension, it's prior employment in the UK.

Thanks

Pulaski

Your tax code can be changed at any time, so I would not recommend relying on what it is at any point in time to avoid filing tax forms for your current needs/ situation.

lansbury

Will this pension be an amount over your UK tax free allowance. If so you would need to complete the two forms, one for the IRS and one for the UK, to get your pension exempted from UK tax.

If your total UK income is below the tax free allowance it isn't necessary now. If you can claim UK State pension in the future and the 2 combined would put you over the limit you would need to do so at the time.

durham_lad

When I first started receiving a UK private pension it had a large amount of tax withheld plus a letter from HMRC asking for details on my worldwide income. I had lived in the US for 20 years and never paid UK during that time tax but it only took a little research to find that I had to file form 2002 to stop withholding at source. It only took a few weeks and my tax code was changed to NT and the previous month(s) tax was refunded in my next pension check. HMRC and my UK pension provider knew I was living in the US and the correspondence from both was to my US address so it did seem a little unnecessary, but maybe I hadn't filed the correct form(s) to HMRC when I first moved to the US in 1987.

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ndividual-2002

Note that I declare and pay US taxes on my UK pension, as per the Double Taxation Agreement.

iceflow

Ok thanks for the info!