It’s possible to sort out your UK State Pension contributions yourself if you’re confident in dealing with HMRC, know the difference between Class 2 / Class 3 National Insurance contributions, and are knowledgeable on pension matters.
For those who would like some help and for this to be done properly, our service exists for the following reasons:
Our staff have done this successfully for thousands of people internationally so have come across the vast majority of different issues involved and how HMRC typically respond in most cases.
One of the questions HMRC ask on the application form is where you are ‘Ordinarily Resident’. But their guidance notes say this is ‘on the day you left the UK’ – So what’s the right answer / implication of getting it wrong? What if you had a family / got married after leaving the UK, how will that impact what you pay HMRC? That can be very expensive if you get it wrong.
A cheap Class 2 year is approx €200 and an expensive Class 3 year is approx €1,000. We ensure you pay as few expensive years as possible.
If you’re in the EU, ‘Letter of Approval / Assessment’ from HMRC might take 6+ weeks to reach you. But if your application is processed after the deadline, you only have 8 weeks to pay HMRC. If there’s a postal delay, you’re in trouble. This is because all HMRC assessments are sent via 2nd class post via Rotterdam.
With XtraPension, we scan and email you ‘Letter of Approval / Assessment’ within a week at most of it being issued, giving you the maximum amount of time to consider your options and ensure any payments reach HMRC in good time so as to not lose out.
If you’re outside the UK and do this whole process yourself, or use another agent, this is a serious risk for you to lose this opportunity.
Would you like to know what’s happening to your case currently / where you’re at in the Queue given the approx processing times of 8-12 months?
What happens if your answers on the application form do not match what HMRC or the Dept of Work & Pensions (DWP) know about you? They will revert with questions for you which we’ll guide you on.
Handling these questions well often requires experience of dealing with HMRC / National Insurance issues
Some people bizarrely don’t proceed when their assessment notice from HMRC arrives because of fear or inertia – even though it’s a fantastic financial deal.
We guide you through the process (Age UK recently said around 34% of people eligible to claim miss out)
After your HMRC assessment notice arrives in 8-12 months and you pay them directly - XtraPension doesn’t handle client funds - it can STILL take HMRC over 12 months from when you pay them for your National Insurance record to be updated.
This scares many people – so we keep you updated.
Unless you’re at retirement age, most people can still pay annually for future years up until the age of 67. We can manage this for you, send you annual reminders etc and keep you updated on any important developments that impact your UK State Pension which you may be otherwise unaware of.
Otherwise it’s very easy to forget – which will likely cost you thousands that you’ll regret when you retire.
