Gary C

Monica Lewis I don't work for HMRC but I do receive a German state pension and have looked in detail at the tax issues. It seems highly likely that your mother’s German pension is the social security “gesetzliche Altersrente”, or what we would call the state pension, administered by Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV). While she was working, subscriptions would have been paid monthly as a percentage of her wages but this would not make it an occupational pension or Betriebsrente. The pension is presumably paid to her by Deutsche Post Renten Service. You should of course check with the pension authority or payer but it seems highly unlikely that it would be a Betriebsrente without there also being a “gesetzliche Altersrente”. As you say, the amount of her pension is reported each year to the German tax office, but not, I think to the UK. Your mother will have started receiving her pension under the 1964 double tax treaty between the two countries. That was replaced by the current one in 2011 (you may recognise that year from your question). Under Article X of the 1964 treaty, a pension received from Germany was taxable only in the UK, so the treatment you describe would be in accordance with the old treaty – indeed all non-Government Service pensions were treated the same under the 1964 treaty. When the new treaty came into force the tax treatment of state pensions changed to them being taxable only in the paying country, so Germany, but Article 32(5) provided that if a person was already in receipt of pension payments covered by Article X of the 1964 treaty, they could elect for the old rules to continue to apply. Given that HMRC has been refunding tax annually, it seems they consider the pension to be a state pension, taxable now only in Germany under Article 17(2) of the new treaty, and consider that no Article 32(5) election has been made to continue the pre-2011 treatment. If correct, this means that the pension should have been taxed in Germany for the past 13 years and that there is no requirement to return it to HMRC as foreign income. If a UK tax return is otherwise required, a note to this effect should be added in the other information space as instructed in the Foreign Income guidance notes. If the above turns out to accurately describe your mother's situation, I wonder what HMRC's position will be on how to resolve matters...

Pear to Pear .

I think it would be helpful to also speak with DWP International Pension Centre as they can advise you on how your contribution record in EU countries can help you get past the 10 NI years requirement for a UK pension. As long as you have at least 2 years in an EU country, then the EU rules on the coordination of social security systems should mean you get a UK pension based on those 8 years. Paying voluntary UK NI to further increase the UK state pension and to work beneficially in your other country(ies) would still, in my view, be worth pursuing.

A person who has worked in the UK and an EU country should be entitled to a pension from each country. Each country will look at they pension they would pay, if any, based solely on the person's contribution record in that country, and the look at what they would receive if they assumed all contribution periods from all countries had been made in their country. This theoretical amount of pension is then apportioned, based on the actual contribution record. Diana, so, with 8 UK years and 30 elsewhere in the EU, the person should get a UK pension based on those 8 years as the EU aggregation will get them past the required 10 years. They will also get pensions in the other EU country/ies on the same basis. Siegfired, with 20 years in Germany and years in the UK, you will get 2 pensions. Ask DRV for a Rentenauskunft including your UK years and you may find that you will be entitle to more than you thought because of how the EU rules pan out with the German rules. The German pension will be taxable only in Germany and your tax office will be Finanzamt Neu Brandenburg. But yes, talk to the Future Pension Centre as HMRC say, and/or with the International Pension Centre as they can advise on the way to claim your EU pensions. HMRC should advise on the taxation of those EU pensions as they are not all the same as Germany.

No. The UK/Poland treaty awards taxing rights over a Polish state pension, received by a UK resident to the UK, so it does need to be declared in your self-assessment tax return.

Pear to Pear .

She could consider paying voluntary UK NI for some or all of the years that are currently still available, This could significantly increase her UK state pension. The EU rules on coordination of social security system apply in relation to all signatory countries, including Spain. Is a person ends up with a contribution record in more than one country, in the can the UK and Spain, each country will consider whether they pay a pension at the appropriate age. Years worked in Spain that do not overlap with year on a UK NI record are aggregated to see if that gets you past the required 10 years. A pension would then be paid based on the actual number of UK years. Spain will do the same calculations from its perspective and applying its rules, so you could end up with 2 pensions, despite not working long enough in either country...

As I understand it, the S1 is not an HMRC thing, so they will be unable to comment - the DTA and Income Tax on your UK income are quite separate from questions about social security and health insurance. Again, my understanding is that a UK S1 is relevant only when you are in receipt of a UK social security pension (aka state pension) and not in receipt of a French social security pension. It is about which state has responsibility for your healthcare when you are in receipt of a social security pension, or pensions. The fact that you are receiving a workplace pension from the Police, that may be treated in a certain way for Income Tax, does not, I think, have any bearing on your entitlement, or otherwise, to a S1. To confirm the above, I think you will need to direct your questions to the NHS, who I think deal with applications for S1s.

"by simple math" may not give you the right answer given the change to the whole system on 6 April 2016 and how the transition from the old rules to the new rules works. You really should contact DWP Future Pension Centre to check how things look for you!

If the person is returning to Italy, then the rules on the coordination of social security systems continue to apply and years contributed in other countries can be added to UK years (and vice-versa) to get past that 10-year requirement.

Have you checked with DWP Future Pension Centre that paying all years will benefit your pension and, if you are planning to return to the UK, thus, presumably, paying mandatory NI, do you need to fill those gaps at all?

Have you checked with DWP Future Pension Centre that you need to pay all available years?