Written records of telephone contact with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) relating to Pension Credits should always be kept by taxpayers, a campaigns body has said.
The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group said that recent legal precedent suggests phone conversations with the authority cannot in themselves be used as evidence by customers involved in tax disputes.
Instead, pensioners were advised to write down the time and date of the call and the content of the conversation, in case they needed a permanent record for the future.
"Taxpayers or claimants mis-hear or misunderstand what they are being told, or HMRC can get things wrong," the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group pointed out.
"The consequence, if the taxpayer or claimant relies on wrong advice or a misunderstood conversation, can be a tax liability or a tax credit overpayment that need not have occurred, and which it is difficult to displace."
Pension Credits are provided to single pensioners earning under £130 per week and pensioner couples with an income of £198.45 or under.
Alternative ways of supplementing income include equity release plans, through which value from the pensioner’s property is unlocked.
Posted by Claire Ford
