First year tax on state pension?

[cloggs]

Shortly I will start to draw state pension and expect to pay basic rate of income tax on it. Can anyone tell me whether I am right in thinking that there will be an exemption to this in the first tax year?

[Ethel]

There is never an exemption - if your income is greater than your personal tax allowance, you pay tax.

[factor-fiction]

I'm puzzled as to why you think there may be an exemption in the first tax year. However if you have had no previous earnings in the current tax year you may not earn enough pension this tax year to pay tax

[dzug]

Tax will not be deducted from it - ever. You will have to do a tax return and pay tax (deducted from other income if you have any eg private pension) if tax is due

[cloggs]

Thanks for the answers folks. If it dawns on me where I got the thought from - and if it proves interesting - I'll post it here.

[sarah_louise]

The Inland Revenue do not take tax on it directly what they do is vastly reduce your personal allowance by the amount of state pension which amounts to the same thing so you pay more tax on any other income source.

[cloggs]

I've eventually realised what I was thinking of.
The extra personal allowance when I reach 65 is given for the 'whole' tax year. So, when I start drawing state pension (at 65) the extra allowance is effectively backdated to the beginning of that tax year.