If HMRC Knocks On Your Door — Say THESE 5 sentences

Nothing special about the things he asks you to do. Any advice centre, every financial page in the papers, government public information ads, tv and radio programme constantly telling us exactly the same thing.

These checks are repeated ad nauseam. Yes, some people will not have seen them, but that kind of person is unlikely to watch a You tube video.

I’m not affronted but I will call out misinformation and scaremongering.

This one from yesterday. He proclaims:

For the first time in history, the UK state pension is about to be taxed. A New HMRC Tax Hits You Next Month.

It has always been taxed.

It’s absolute nonsense.

This is a summary of what he has sentences do:-

Ask for identification.
Ask for proof of authority.
Don't let people into your home simply because they claim to be from HMRC.
Don't sign documents you don't understand.
Verify matters independently.

The presentation is overstated but then there are people on this forum who watch GB News! I thought so many had become inured to this by now and that it might just be useful for those able to sort the wheat from the chaff.

All I can suggest is that those affronted by it don't watch it - but then I wonder how many did

I don’t disagree that the things that he is telling people to say are sensible if a debt enforcement officer or a bailiff appears on your doorstep trying to collect any kind of debt e.g. don’t engage with them unless they have ID and proof of the debt and don’t let them into your home BUT he is framing this as if HMRC are sending out legions of officers to harass pensioners over piddly amounts of tax and it simply isn’t true. How would it be cost effective for a start?

I don’t know what current limits are as they aren’t published but HMRC have always had tolerance limits below which they won't even issue a correction notice let alone send out enforcement officers. Ten years ago it was underpayment of under £50.

He’s had 98k views but only 2.5 👍
That tells you that the majority of people think it’s a pile of crap.

But Daisy they do NOT turn up at your house like that. Why is it acceptable to deliberately lie and frighten people? Of course there’s an issue about frozen thresholds and the state pension but this is not how to handle it.

The five sentences are designed to stop you saying the wrong thing. I (personally) don't think there is any problem in having them to hand.

Again, the "They're Taxing Your State Pension Now" applies, if you watch it, to people newly being drawn into tax because of the continued triple-lock and the frozen tax allowance. Watching something is different to only reading the headline. You may not like the framing of the headlines (they are often worse on GN), and the video may not apply to those who have replied, but the five sentences will harm no one and they may just give someone a little piece of mind.

That this channel is anti recent government moves on tax and ageing into state pensions seems totally reasonable to me - but then my bias tends to go against taking pennies in tax from the poorest while letting the extremely rich get away with some ov the lowest tax percentages.

He may not even be real. But he’s evil - scaremongering and lying. Who’s pulling the strings, funding this?

The video may or may not be rubbish. I wont click on it.

But there are words to say and not say, when speaking with HMRC.
Saying things like "I didnt know we had to do that", as an example, to HMRC may look[to them] like you have been careless in your tax affairs.

We have gone so far as to take out insurance with our accountant, in case[we have 2 businesses] we are the ones to get investigated. The insurance would cover the extra hours the accountant would have to put in to prove we have done things correctly.

It can all be an expensive minefield.

I think he’s scaremongering and I’m nor sure I understand what his motive is. His previous video was called They're Taxing Your State Pension Now. State Pension has always been taxable.

HMRC are not going to come after you for tax arrears unless they have assessed you for that tax in the first place. They will always find other ways to collect unpaid tax first e.g. an adjustment to the tax code before sending the bailiffs out for tiny sums.

You can chose how to pay tax arrears on pensions either through a coding adjustment if you have a private pension or by direct payment.

Unless there are grounds of appeal. e.g. if that assessment is incorrect, then you have to pay. Pensioners are no different to anyone else. If your income exceeds £12,570, you have to pay income tax.

HMRC does have mobile advisers:

Where appropriate, our mobile advisers can meet customers in their home, or somewhere convenient nearby, to talk through the issues in a friendly and supportive way.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-issue-briefing-support-for-customers-who-need-extra-help/hmrc-issue-briefing-support-for-customers-who-need-extra-help

Last time this came up was in a discussion between Rachel Reeves and Martin Lewis:

Martin Lewis: "I'm going to start, if that's okay, with Rebecca, who says: 'Does my 85-year-old father who's living with dementia now have to complete a tax return as his State Pension will take him over the personal allowance?'."

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves: "So if you just have a State Pension, you don't have any other pension, we are not going to make you fill in a tax return."

Martin: "Of any type?"

The Chancellor: "Yes. And so I make that commitment for this Parliament. You're right, 2027 looks like the time that it will cross over. We are working on a solution, as we speak, to ensure that we're not going after tiny amounts of money."

Martin: "But people will have to pay the tax. They just won't have to do a return? Or will they not have to pay the tax?"

The Chancellor: "In this Parliament, they won't have to pay the tax."

Martin: "Okay."

The Chancellor: "You know, further out, I'm not about to make any commitments on that. But we're just looking at a simple workaround at the moment."

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/11/martin-lewis-chancellor-state-pension-income-tax/

Where would the threshold be?

Paul Lewis reported that at May 2025 758,363 on old State Pension and 64,603 on new State Pension had weekly State Pension above £300. Many have State Pension over £400 a week. They may have no other income. Reeves is unlikely to say that pensioners with incomes in excess of £15,000 from SP only won't have to pay tax while everyone else, other pensioners and working age people are bound by the £12,570 threshold.

Utter rubbish, Don't bother watching it. It's scaremongerng.

And in that case, it’s more likely to be the police from the SFO

What Padstow says 🤓

Scare mongering and achieving plenty of clicks.
HMRC very rarely knock on doors, and if they do it’s more likely that it’s very serious ie, money laundering.

Exactly - this video is sheer nonsense designed to stir up fear and rubbish the government. I didn’t watch all of it - the first 2-3 minutes told me all I needed to know. I really don’t understand why you’ve posted it .Yes there’s a general issue about dealing with cold callers but that’s not what this video is addressing

HMRC can't be bothered to answer the phone so it's highly surprising - and extremely dubious - that they would call from door to door.

It's another scam. So is the video.