Calculating State Pension

Hi, when calculating a state pension for a self assessment tax return do I use the stated figure paid at the beginning of each tax year and multiply that amount by 52 ? Thank you

Hi,
As you are paid every four weeks then it would be 13 times the 4 weekly amount.
If you have an online Personal Tax account the details would be shown there:
Personal tax account: sign in or set up
Thank you.

HMRC Admin 21, The state pension is taxed on the amount to which the person is entitled during the year, so to take account of the fact that the pension increases from the first benefit week that starts on, or after, the first Monday of the tax year, one cannot take the weekly amount x 52, or the 4-weekly amount x 13. It is generally 1 week at the old rate and 51 weeks at the new, unless of course it is a 53-week year.

Not HMRC...the standard practice for accts and 90% of taxpayers is 52 weeks or 13 payments. There is no point in adjusting for one week increase...dept for pensions computer cant handle that in supplying the figure to HMRC. In addition, the 1 week and 51 week thing balances out year on year, first year difference made up in second year, second year difference made up in 3 year and so on. The difference of one week increase gives a tax difference of less than £10...usually less than £5, and often £1-£2 (depending on increase), all of which are within HMRC tolerance limits. This topic appears to have become obsessive on here...like I say, accts, HMRC and Pensions all work on 52 weeks/13 pyts, as payment dates are dictated by ni numbers as to the days of the week its received, the 5/6th April can fall on a weekend and its always in arrears, its not worth the time and effort to adjust by a few pounds on which the tax is minimal and in some years has been pence!

Hi, not HMRC but hmrc do in fact use 1 week at the old rate and 51 weeks at the new rate so their computers seemingly can handle it. This manual page also confirms it is 1 week at the old rate and 51 weeks at the new rate under the heading about uprating the state pension. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/paye-manual/paye76030

Hello Bellaboo...not seen that?...when I log on to system to check "information to assist to complete return"field on SA system on client record (to then use on 3rd party software) the figure in the state pension field (when its there) is 52 weeks directly from pensions dept...just checked the 3 returns I did yesterday, all of the figures in that field on the SA system are 52 weeks (i.e. agree to the letter received by client with figure x 52 after April 23 increase)...then the figure in the code is that figure rounded up to nearest £5 for PAYE purposes.

...also noting that on that link to manuals, where pension started pre 2010 and 6/4 falls on Sat/Sun/Mon system calculates at 52 weeks...but not when on a Tues to Fri...I think this just illustrates there are different rules for different people, its not the same for everyone i.e. 51 / 1 doesnt apply automatically across the board, depends on when the tax year end/start falls, and the difference for which, on say, a £10 weekly rate increase would be a £2 tax difference for a BR payer, £4 - £4.50 at higher rates!...worth the time?

The tax return guide a.k.a. SA150 Notes also explicitly describes the 51/1 method in the notes for the relevant box. It too mentions the variation for pensions started before 6 April 2010. It also specifically says NOT to calculate based on 4-weekly payments received, so HMRC Admin 21 is contradicting the official published notes. @Clive Smaldon: I agree that the amounts are small and the method feels unnecessarily overcomplicated, but since HMRC explicitly lays out the method it wants to be followed, we can only reasonably comply.

...Im old enough to rememeber when it used to change in November and used to be 33 weeks and 17/18 weeks...so a question, if the first Monday in the tax year is 6 April 2023 (increased on 6th April 2020, the date the pension was payable from, according to AI) what possible logic would there be for 51/1 that year? Am curious...not obsessive, just curious...

Given the SA150 Notes tell us to use 1 week old / 51 weeks new, regardless of the day of the week 6th April falls on (for people who reached State Pension age on or after 6th April 2010), the only logic I can think of fitting with this is that, on a Monday 6th April: * First, entitlement accrues for the week that has just completed (Monday March 30th through Sunday April 5th) at the old rate * Second, the rate switches to the new rate for week just starting to accrue Frustratingly, I can't find any sources to verify, so this is just conjecture to fit the observed advice. But, this hints at another can of worms... in some years there will be not 52 Mondays, but 53. If I'm understanding this right, those years would need to be calculated as 1 week old / 52 weeks new. The last such year was 2020/21 ... I went back to look at the SA150 equivalent from that year, but it didn't feature all the details present on the current ones, so was inconclusive.