HMRC warning issued to pensioners who may face unexpected tax bill for this reason | Personal Finance | Finance [Video]

Pensioners have been told to double check if they could potentially owe tax to the HMRC due to state pension changes. 

The state pension has risen to £11,502 a year from this month, just £1,068 below the personal allowance of £12,570, meaning more and more pensioners will have to start paying taxes.

The new full state pension now makes up 92 percent of the tax threshold, with the full basic state pension (£8,814 a year) covering 70 percent of the threshold.

Pensioners claiming additional support on top of the state pension like State Earnings-Related Pension (Serps) could easily be pushed past the tax threshold.

Since 2010 the number of pensioners paying taxes has doubled, soaring from 4.5 million to 9 million.

In a column for the Yorkshire Post, Ros Altmann, a former Pensions Minister turned campaigner expressed her concern that millions of pensioners may not be aware that they have passed the …