Hi, I have a client who I file their tax returns for that receives rental income, money from a private pension and money from a state pension.
I have all the details for the rental income and a P60 for the private pension but no details for the state pension, they have lost all paperwork and only have one months bank statement that only shows one (four weekly) state pension payment.
How on earth (apart from getting copies of bank statements from the bank) can she find out how much state pension she has received?? is there a number she can call to get the figure for the 2013/14 tax year?
The 4 weekly amount on the bank statement is £576.60, which is more than the basic state pension. I'm not sure of the rules with state pension - if it's the same amount all through the tax year. If it is, does this mean that she would have been paid this amount 4 weekly all through the tax year?
How do you know that you have all of the details of the rental income if you do not have the bank statements as evidence?
Thats the first thing that HMRC will ask for.
I generally regard our collecting information as preparation for a visit that may never happen but if it does then we will have our clients data to hand.
Does the client have access to their bank account online? If so then getting printouts is easy. If not they should gett the statements reprinted in branch.
That would be my approach as how do you prove what someone has told you via a phone call.
Always think of what HMRC would want and build your procedures and expectations around that,
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
She has several bank accounts, it's just the one that the state pension payments go into that's missing. I'll have to tell her to go to the bank and get copies.
Thanks for the advice - I must get better at demanding proof of everything!
I must get better at demanding proof of everything!
Thanks again Rachel
Hi Rachel
Thats become my stock in trade. I have a customer that had a really small item showing on his Bank statement from Papypal - a small credit of £13. Now I knew he did Ebay sales but that he was at a very quite part of his seasonal year but I had already asked about sales through Ebay and was told that he hadnt done any. So I asked again for the paypal statements/activity sheets to reflect this small transfer and after a lot of feeble excuses as to why he couldnt get the reports any more and all the usual shennigans I managed to get the info - imagine my surprise to find that he had indeed have several sales (about 30!!) but also he had used the bulk of the funds to buy business related stuff, so there were rather a lot of purchase invoices I had to go after too.
I say - always dig and get proof - as Shaun says, always think what would the VAT man etc want to see. Glad I did on this one when he had a VAT inspection and it was clean!! Bloomin frustrating client though.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Your client or yourself can request a BR735 letter from The Pension Service. They will probably have had one each February so now is a good time to tell them to keep it safely every year. With a bit of luck it will tie in with the £576.60 figure you have.
If you are doing self assessment for the client, and they are getting a state pension, in my experience the boxes already filled in with "Yes", and the also the amount (when you get to that page).
Not sure if it is totally accurate, or can be relied on but the few that I have done have always been correct.
Don't know why they don't do it with the private pension part, as you no longer need to give them the details of the pension provider. They already know from the RTI submission from them
If you're registered as agent HMRC also sometimes provide State Pension amounts under "Information to help complete your tax return" after you've selected the client.
