FOr more than a decade, my husband and I were customers of a financial advisory company called Addidi Wealth. During this time I worked for the public service and exceeded my pension allowance (the annual amount that can be saved in a pension while I still qualified for tax relief) every year and left me an income tax bill for the surplus.
I paid the system to pay the tax, which meant that money was deducted from my pension and paid to HM Revenue & Customs.
Every year I sent my financial advisor a form that would then arrange this in my name with my pension company. My problem began in 2020 after Addidi Wealth was bought by another The financial consulting company called offspring and our consultant left the business. After 14 months with our new advisor, my husband and I decided to receive advice from another company.
Fast preliminary in the last year, when I had an invoice from the HMRC, that I owed the income tax of more than £ 19,000 and a penalty of 4,160 GBP. The HMRC explained that I had exceeded my pension allowance in 2019/20 and not paid any tax on the surplus. I was shocked because this meant that descendants could not carry out my scheme output request all these years ago. It was even more worrying that offspring had carried out two annual reviews since this event that were based on the incorrect assumption that the tax liability had been settled.
Ducks said that it sent the system in 2020, paid the paperwork to MyCSP, the company that operates the pension system for public services, although it did not provide any evidence that MyCSP had carried out my request. I said to Mycsp, who said it never received the documents of descendants.
Since then I have paid the tax owed and the £ 4,161 punishment. I also paid my accountant additional £ 750 for your time with HMRC. I think the service of descendants has no longer decreased and should reimburse me for these costs, but this will not do so.
It cannot be right that I'm not out of my pocket. I spent many hours to solve this and I can't start describing the stress that this has caused.
Name and address delivered
Katherine Denham writes
They had paid more than £ 10,000 on annual fees for a fully advised service. They rightly expected that the company managed their request without having to worry about a surprise tax invoice later.
In 2020, the maximum amount that they were able to pay in pension was still £ 40,000 a year. The allowance rose to 60,000 GBP in 2023, although this begins to reduce as soon as they earn more than £ 200,000 a year. You can also advance any unused allowance from the past three years.
If you exceed your pension allowance, you no longer qualify for tax relief, which means that you have to pay income tax on the surplus. You can either pay for this yourself from savings, or you can ask your pension company to pay for the system as part of the system.
To use scheme, ask your pension company to offer you an offer in which it is explained how much it would have to remove from your pension. If you are satisfied with the offer, sign a form to accept it, and the pension company would then confirm that it paid the tax.
Mycsp said that descendants sent a quote for £ 19,183 in October 2020, but offspring never accepted it. But descendants showed me an e -mail that she had sent to MyCSP in December of this year, in which a form was added that made it clear that it accepted the quote. A second hunting email had also sent in January 2021, but had never heard again. Although the e -mails were sent to the right place, Mycsp said that it has no recording of this news.
When I spoke to the cabinet office, which is responsible for the public service pension program, it says: “Mycsp tries to do things right and we understand the need of the member.” It is said that they would have to make a formal complaint before it would continue to examine.
This does not change the fact that Mycsp has never sent a confirmation to confirm that she had carried out the request, and I did not think that descendants had done enough to ensure that it had been processed. Discounts had also managed their finances for months, so this problem should have been brought to light much earlier.
I asked the descendants to throw another overview of her complaint, and she checked the situation and agreed to pay their costs for delay and additional accounting. It also offered them compensation of £ 500 for the burden caused and inconvenience.
Adomings said: “Our usual processes make sure that the instructions are carried out correctly and in time. This was an isolated incident. We have recognized that in this case it was the responsibility of descendants to confirm that the form was received, and as such it would be happy to cover the costs and the costs that we intend to bring our former clients back into the financial position.
But they were not entirely satisfied because they said that the financial advice they have received since 2020 was based on inaccurate information. They said: “I shared my old statements with my new consultant, but I now believe that these documents are based on false information, which means that the value of my pension is just as wrong, as is my pension.”
• HMRC made a mistake – but we won't return our £ 15,000
They wanted descendants to refund the financial consulting fees they have paid since then. But the company said they had received advice in all areas and provided all ongoing services so that it was leaning.
They were disappointed and discussed that they would take on their complaint to the Ombudsman, but descendants said that his offer would withdraw if they went this way and adhered to the decision of the ombudsman. In the end, they accepted the offer of descendants to get this sad saga behind.
They said: “I still say that descendants have not shown me a duty of care. I just hope that others have no similar experience.”
I earn £ 600 a month, but Southern Water doesn't give me a cheap tariff
I live alone in an apartment with three bedrooms that is for sale because I can no longer afford to live here. Since there was a big landslide that influenced the Isle of Wight, I fight to find a buyer.
My only income is a pension that pays me £ 600 a month, but this year my water bill has almost doubled from about 24 to £ 41 per month, which I simply cannot afford. I can't understand why my fees are so high, especially if my water consumption is minimal (I spend a lot of time to take care of my mother who lives nearby).
Southern Water said I don't qualify for a discount because I have a pot with savings. Technically speaking, this is not correct because the money in my account comes from a loan that I have included in essential roof repairs. I pay a blackmailed interest rate for this loan, which is secured against my property. Southern Water says I have to use the loan to pay my water bill, but this would give me a deficiency for the roof plants, and I would violate my lease if I didn't pay.
I pointed out to the southern water, but it won't listen. My financial situation is extremely tight. Like so many others, I struggle to pay my bills, but this increase brought me over the edge.
Name and address delivered
Katherine Denham writes
They clearly have difficulty keeping their heads over water, and so it seemed unnecessarily hard that southern water does not take their specific circumstances into account.
This year the water invoices will increase by an average of 26 percent, so that their increase in 71 percent was completely disproportionate. I suspect that this is partially due to the fact that your water invoices are estimated: your property has no water knife because you have a common supply with two neighbors.
This seemed unfairly and reinforced by southern water that refused to put it on one of his special tariffs. Customers receive a 45 percent discount on their bills if their household income does not exceed 22,020 GBP per year and they achieve less than 16,000 GBP. Her income of £ 7,200 was far below 22,020 GBP, but her loan brought her over the peg threshold.
• I was attached to my landlord's water bill
Southern Water told me that they could receive the discount as soon as the repair work was carried out and the loan was built up. But it would take three months for the roof repairs to begin and they said they would have really difficulty making their bills in the meantime. I asked Southern Water whether there would be at least some breath for them until they had paid the repairs, and then it was ready to give them a 45 percent discount on their bills and save them £ 220 over a year.
Southern Water said: “We are sorry to listen to the effects of this experience on this customer. We increase our financial support package, whereby we add another 18,000 authorized customers to our at least 45 percent discount program.”
It also means that it is the installation of a water knife so that your bills were based on your actual use.
They said: “I cried tears of relief when I knew that the payments were within an amount that I could afford, and I am sure that this would not have happened without your help. We hope that my property would soon sell.”
• £ 1.521.968 – The amount that your money affects has saved readers so far this year
If you have a money problem, you want Katherine Denham E -Mails yourmoneymatters@theimes.co.uk. Please enter a phone number