By way of background, the Trustees wrote to pensioners of the schemes below in September regarding a Scheme tax code issue.
| Scheme | Tax Office Reference |
|---|---|
| BAE Systems Pension Scheme | 120/GE63691 |
| BAE Systems Executive Pension Scheme | 475/KE63308 |
| Royal Ordnance Pension Scheme | 120/UE63691 |
| Royal Ordnance Senior Staff Pension Scheme | 120/HE63692 |
The letter explained that Mercer had taken over from Equiniti as the Scheme Administrator with effect from 1 August 2023 and regrettably Equiniti did not inform HMRC that it would no longer be making payment of the Scheme pensions until after Mercer had run the September payroll. As a result, HMRC automatically issued new tax codes to pensioners either by letter or via the Government Gateway. This was because HMRC assumed that the payment being made by Mercer was additional income rather than a replacement of the pension previously paid by Equiniti.
Since September and whilst it investigated, HMRC instructed Mercer to close down the automatic connection between Mercer and the HMRC systems. This action was taken so that pensioners would not be affected by the issuing of any erroneous or unneeded tax codes.
HMRC has now confirmed that Mercer should apply any tax codes it has supplied. As noted in the previous letter to pensioners, reasons that a pensioner may require a change in tax code are for example if they start to get income from an additional job or another pension, or taxable state benefits, or perhaps have an underpayment from either an earlier year or this year.
We know that some of our pensioners contacted HMRC to discuss the tax codes they received. Mercer should now have received the new tax codes for any pensioner who made direct contact with HMRC to make a change to their tax code and with whom HMRC has verified the change directly. This should be reflected in the next payment. The tax code in use appears on a pensioners’ monthly pension payslip which can be accessed via the Mercer member portal, OneView www.contactpensionsadmin.com/baes
Whilst Mercer as the Scheme Administrator is very happy to answer questions about pensions, please note that unfortunately neither Mercer nor the Trustee has any discretion on whether to amend or dis-apply any tax code received from HMRC. Therefore, any specific concerns about the tax code that is being applied should be directed to HMRC using the contact details below.
- 0300 200 3300 or +44 135 535 9022 if you are calling from abroad
- Please note the tax office reference number applicable to your scheme (see above)