This makes me so cross!

Redtop it's not just money in the bank which is included I Australua. People we know bought a plot of land where they intended to build a retirement house one day and that was included too when assessing whether or not they could receive a pension.

If the UK pension was above the tax threshold, it would be taxed. It's not the fact that it is a pension, it is that it would not usually be above the tax threshold, although, as Maggiemaybe has pointed out, if SERPS was added, that is possible.

Ah, yes, I see now Maggiemaybe.
It is all rather complicated.

Not paying tax on an Australian Pension, not strictly true, although they do receive a higher amount compared to the UK State Pension.

The Australian’State Pension’ is means tested and is paid via Centrelink’ which is similar to DSS here in the UK. If you have a certain amount of money in the bank (Unsure if the amount) you aren’t eligible to receive it (unlike UK State Pension which you don’t pay tax on, although UK Pension Credit Supplements are means tested). Where as everyone in the UK pays National Insurance Contributions gets a pension.

Australian Superannuation is the pension your employer legally has to pay a set percentage this was 9% due to go up to 12% (as we left in 2017) of your salary and you had the option to pay extra (Similar to AVC’s in the UK), you also had the choice of paying on it before tax or after tax (After Tax meant that you didn’t pay any tax when you received your Superannuation.

So the system isn’t the same, you also don’t get ‘free prescriptions’ at 60, but once you reach pensionable age 66 rising to 67 years you get a card and pay a reduced Set amount (I believe about £3 per item for medication). Prescriptions items aren’t one set amount, what you pay depends on the medication. I was paying the equivalent £70 per month for the regular medications I need, whereas on my return to the UK - over 60 I didn’t pay anything.

No moggie, the number of hours you work isn't the issue. It's what your paid for any number of hours that you work. You could, in theory, work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but so long as the pay that you receive for those hours worked, plus what you receive for your state pension, doesnt exceed £12,500 a year, you will not pay income tax.

i thought if you working ,and you get a pension ,you allowed to work 16 hours and no more ,after that you get taxed.

Vq the issue of someone missing out on State benefits because they’ve paid into a private pension which takes them over the earnings or savings threshold is different from the issue of a pension being taxed.

As several others have said, what you pay in pension contributions isn’t taxed. So it’s only right that any income from them, over and above your tax-free allowance, should be.

But the problem you raised is a very real one. People who have been prudent and gone without to provide for themselves miss out on benefits compared to others who have not.
But I’m afraid that’s what a ‘safety net’ is all about, unfair though it might sometimes seem.

I do know someone who gets £250 a week, Callistemon, from the old system with SERPS added. He’d never paid into another pension though.

My State Pension is just under £10,000 and I had the full number of years and I paid full stamp all that time. Some of this time was contracted in and some contracted out.

Chewbacca DH was pleasantly surprised too, he thought if he carried on working then he'd have to pay NI.

Witzend I only know of one elderly relative who gets a State Pension in Australia.
The means tested threshold is quite high and includes any assets.

I don't think anyone's State Pension in the UK is anywhere near £12,500 pa, is it?

I can’t wait till my 66th birthday, when I’ll finally get my state pension and become a taxpayer again. I’ll be more than happy to pay my dues.

Chardy, wrong my state pension certainly exceeds £12,500. The difference is added to another pension for tax purposes

Then, cumulatively, those 3 pensions must total more than £12,500 per annum otherwise they would be under the personal allowance threshold.

I am taxed on my late DH's pension, my teachers pension, and my state pension...

On the point about NI contributions - you do pay a contribution if you are self-employed.

Or did and I never heard the end of it till dh retired completely!

That’s true about the Aussie state pension. An Aussie friend of ours (over 80) gets nothing. He’s comfortable enough, but certainly not loaded.

State pension does not exceed £12.5k, so theoretically you don't pay tax on your state pension.

I think it's right to pay tax on pensions - it's still income and £12,000 is a reasonable sum to receive tax-free.

The proportion of pension age people to younger people is getting bigger and if all those people on pensions don't pay tax on income above £12,000 how are all the public services (which older people need to use, the same as everyone else) to be paid for?

If its income its taxable, end of. It's what we should do. I've been paying a lot more than that , in Spain on my pensions

YABU I just can't see why paying about £45 a week income tax makes you cross?

I have no private pensions

I hadn't realised that NI wasn't paid after the state retirement age had been reached Callistemon; nice surprise when I got my salary!

We dont pay NI contributions after receipt of the State Pension either.

I do see your point about your mum and aunt, vampirequeen.

We did get tax relief on private pension contributions though.

Can't have tax relief at both ends! We don't pay tax on the State pension because it isn't enough to bring anyone into the tax bracket.